Government departments could face a backlog in service provider payments after a problem with its electronic payment system took a week to resolve.
State IT Agency (SITA) spokesperson, Jeanny Morulane, says the Basic Accounting System (BAS) is up and running again, after a problem with its database caused users to be unable to access the system. Morulane says the system was taken down last Sunday for scheduled maintenance, but the agency experienced problems when trying to bring it back up on Monday.
"SITA has attended to the problem and the system is currently operational. The system was affected nationally; however, while the system was down, contingency measures were put in place to ensure that critical payments were not compromised."
Morulane did not specify when the system was operational again, but on Friday MEC for finance in KwaZulu-Natal, Ina Cronj'e, issued a statement saying the system was still down at that stage.
According to Cronj'e, this means government departments nationally have not been able to capture and approve payments, and the provincial treasury could not release the payment run to the bank for the electronic fund transfer to suppliers.
"I apologise to everyone and we commit ourselves that once the system is up and running, we will work around the clock, even if it means over the weekend, to make sure we capture and transfer those payments to the banks for payment to the service providers. We sincerely regret any inconvenience caused by this," she said.
Rollout of the state electronic payment system started in 2000 in an effort to improve provincial departments' ability to close their books within the monthly stipulated period as determined by National Treasury. The system was also meant to streamline submissions to the auditor-general, as well as annual reports to the Provincial Legislature. BAS can be used by government departments to draw expenditure records, income statements and balance sheets, bank reconciliations and other financial data, for analysis and control purposes.
In June 2012, global consulting firm Accenture secured a controversial tender to develop a modified financial management system that is expected to be rolled out across national and provincial government. This reportedly formed part of National Treasury's integrated financial management system, which is being run as a joint initiative with the Department of Public Service and Administration and SITA.
Accenture has developed, enhanced and maintained the BAS since its inception.
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