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Gauteng turns to e-invoicing

Nicola Mawson
By Nicola Mawson, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 24 Jun 2015
The e-invoicing portal is helping cash flow at small and medium enterprises, says Gauteng finance MEC Barbara Creecy.
The e-invoicing portal is helping cash flow at small and medium enterprises, says Gauteng finance MEC Barbara Creecy.

Gauteng finance MEC Barbara Creecy this week unveiled an electronic invoicing service that will trim the amount of time it takes suppliers to get invoices to the correct provincial government department from 60 days to under two days.

The online service allows suppliers to submit invoices electronically via any Internet connection or at Thusong Centres. A total of 24 centres will be connected to the system this year after the initiative was launched at the Maponya Mall Thusong Centre in Soweto.

Government has a policy that all suppliers need to be paid in 30 days from submission of invoice. However, this has often been a bugbear for companies, especially smaller ones, as the process of getting an invoice to the correct department and signed off is onerous.

Minister in the Presidency, Jeff Radebe, noted in May paying suppliers within 30 days is an area in which government has been found wanting. Although the situation was improving, "delays in payment still remain a major challenge, with significant impact on small business, on growing the economy and on employment creation".

"We have thus undertaken to establish a special unit to monitor the 30-day payment rigorously and unlock bottlenecks."

Creecy said the province had been "working for some time to reach the target of paying suppliers within 30 days". She added a National Treasury study found it can take up to 60 days for invoices to reach the relevant department for processing. "With the new system, suppliers can submit any time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

Speaking at the launch of the system, Creecy said the pilot, running since November 2014, has already added a sample of small and large companies.

"Service providers on the pilot say it removes the need to phone officials as they can personally and at their convenience track progress with their invoices. This makes a huge difference to the cash flow of small and medium suppliers," Creecy said.

Gauteng's Treasury is inviting all registered government suppliers to attend electronic invoicing services supplier information and on-boarding sessions.

Gauteng's portal follows the April introduction by National Treasury of the e-Tender Publication portal and central supplier database - an initiative of the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer.

National Treasury's move was also a bid to cut down the amount of red tape suppliers have to deal with.

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