Government departments are turning to call centres in an effort to improve their payment rate to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
This follows commitments made by president Jacob Zuma earlier this year to improve government's financial practices. Cabinet also identified resolving late or non-payments, due to slow or inefficient systems, as a priority. All departments with backlogs were encouraged to find ways to fast-track payments.
The Department of Public Works has established a dedicated call centre to facilitate the interaction with service providers. The department, which has been struggling to make sure SMEs are paid within the prescribed 30 days for several years now, says the call centre will help it clear its payment backlog.
The department says it has allocated R5 million, over a period of three years, for its operations, adding that more funds would be allocated if necessary. The project, titled Operation Re Ya Patala, aims to clear all the payment backlogs the department has racked up in the previous financial years.
Chief financial officer Cathy Motsisi says the department is millions in arrears to SMEs and the department's tardiness in paying business creditors was highlighted in its 2008/9 annual report. Motsisi says the department is aware it is a “great impediment” to SMEs and is working on improving its financial management systems.
Fast-tracking
Motsisi says it is in the interest of departments to pay service providers and contractors “promptly to enable swift and effective service delivery”. She adds that systems have been piloted over three months and have proved successful.
“The systems we have in place are efficient and we have tested other processes, such as the process flow and the various reporting formats available,” she says.
In September, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced it was creating a national hotline for SMEs to help with the process of outstanding government payments.
The DTI is set to spend R5 million per year on the Public Sector SME Payment Assistance Hotline, for a period of five years. The Small Enterprise Development Agency will manage the service, and call centre company Advance Call has been selected as the service provider.
Trade and industry minister Rob Davies said previously that delayed payments from the public sector have been under investigation and call centres would be established to fast-track payments to SMEs.
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