The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has created a national hotline for small and medium enterprises (SMMEs) to help with the process of outstanding government payments.
The DTI will spend R5 million per year on the Public Sector SME Payment Assistance Hotline, for a period of five years. The Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) will manage the service, and call centre company Advance Call has been selected as the service provider.
This follows the end of the pilot phase, which has been running since April, to test the process flow, reporting formats and efficiency of the systems. The DTI says the pilot was successful and the hotline will facilitate the payment for services rendered by SMEs, within 30 days of delivery.
Seda CEO Hlonela Lupuwana notes that, while government had established support institutions and services for SMEs, entrepreneurs still question government's commitment to them.
“This is primarily as a result of the lengthy processes involved in the approval or delivery of services and it is, therefore, important that further monitoring mechanisms are established to help address challenges faced by this sector,” says Lupuwana.
The DTI reports that the local SME sector contributes more than 40% to the country's gross domestic product. The hotline forms part of government's efforts to support and sustain this critical sector.
Trade and industry minister Rob Davies says the issue of late or non-payment by public sector institutions to SMEs has been high on Cabinet's agenda for a long time.
“Cabinet is aware that this delay is a key contributor to cash flow problems affecting small enterprises and the hotline will provide an easy, accessible solution that will fast-track payments,” he adds.
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