Gauteng Shared Services Centre (GSSC) billed almost €120 million for failing to pay suppliers
Gauteng Shared Services Centre (GSSC) has a R1.37 billion (€120 million) payment backlog, even after introducing new payment systems over the years (in response to previous backlogs), due to failing to pay its suppliers since April 2008. The backlog has been slightly reduced by R324 million, from R1.7 billion, over a period of three weeks, but the GSSC must increase dramatically reduce this if its payments are to meet their deadline.
Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane stated the backlog would be cleared by the end of September. The finance MEC Mandla Nkomfe says he was confident the GSSC would meet the deadline - “We are steadfast in our commitment to ensuring we complete this task within the set time frame. While doing so, we will continue to implement stringent internal controls to ensure the prescribed rules are not flouted.” Newly-appointed GSSC CEO Molaodi Khutsoane and Nkomfe both blamed the backlog on incorrect or incomplete information. There has been no comment though on reasons why the backlog has escalated into the billions and why the issue was not resolved earlier. The GSSC further claims payments were being fast-tracked through Operation Bhadala, which is the provincial government's initiative to ensure all outstanding invoices for goods and services rendered and delivered are paid.
Despite all of this, the finance department and GSSC continue to blame suppliers for the delays. “It has emerged that some of the payments we process get rejected because, in certain cases, banking or other material supplier details may have changed or documents may not be matching each other and, therefore, are not recognised by the system,” says Nkomfe. As a result, the department has established a task team, called the War Room. The MEC says the team is tasked with clearing the backlog and assisting suppliers to update information on the system. “We have made a call to our suppliers to ensure they submit invoices accompanied by documents such as the purchase order, instructions to perform work, or statements of account to the department where they rendered service or delivered goods.”
