South Africa's small, medium and micro enterprise (SMME) sector contributes more than 40% to the country's gross domestic product (GDP). In an effort to support and sustain this critical sector, the Department of Trade and Industry's (the dti) Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) today launched a national hotline for SMMEs at the Presidential Guest House in Pretoria, to assist with the process of outstanding government payments.
The public sector SMME Payment Assistance Hotline will provide a single point of contact between SMMEs and government, to facilitate the payment of services rendered by SMMEs, within 30 days of delivery thereof, to public sector institutions. This is in line with the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), which requires that public entities pay for services rendered within 30 days of receipt of the necessary deliverables.
The initiative reflects government's proactive approach to developing small enterprises and its commitment to integrating this sector into the mainstream economy.
Speaking at the launch, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, said the issue of late or non-payment by public sector institutions to the SMMEs has been high on Cabinet's agenda for a long time. Davies said that Cabinet is aware that this delay is a key contributor to cash flow problems affecting small enterprises and that the hotline will provide an easy, accessible solution that wills fast-track payments.
SMMEs are encouraged to call the hotline, should an invoice from a government department not be paid within 30 days. A dedicated hotline agent will gather all the information pertaining to the specific circumstances of late payment and contact the relevant government departments' finance divisions to facilitate payment of the outstanding amounts.
Seda's Chief Executive Officer, Hlonela Lupuwana, said government has established many financial and non-financial support institutions and services for SMMEs. However, she mentioned that these 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," said Lupuwana.
Seda will manage the service and has appointed a service provider to operate the hotline on its behalf. The launch follows the successful conclusion of a pilot phase, which has been running since April 2009, to test the process flow, reporting formats and efficiency of the system.
The Public Sector SMME Payment Assistance Hotline can be reached via a dedicated share call number 0860 766 3729 (0860 SMME PAY) and will operate from 06h00 to 18h00 weekdays. After-hour enquiries may be submitted via e-mail or fax. The e-mail and fax templates can be downloaded via the Seda website, by following the Public Sector SMME Payment Assistance Hotline link, which is accessible 24/7.
For more information, contact:
Sidwell Medupe
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 073 522 6801
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
