The Provincial Treasury’s ground-breaking “Pay on Time” campaign grew wheels as it today moved to one of KwaZulu-Natal’s fastest growing economic hubs, Richards Bay to interact with the business community on the need to help government to pay suppliers promptly and address any payment-related queries they may have.
The campaign, whose objective is to encourage and commit government departments to pay suppliers within 30 days after service is rendered, is touted as long overdue, ethical and considerate by the business fraternity while government sees it as part of good governance.
Encouraging entrepreneurs to interact with the department on the campaign, MEC for Finance, Ina Cronjé, known for having pulled provincial administration out of a two-year financial conundrum, said after helping government to get out of the overdraft, the focus is on ensuring fair and transparent business relations with the province’s business community, with specific reference to suppliers that do business with government.
Mayor of the City of uMhlathuze, Cllr Elphas Mbatha said as part of the economic development of the region, they are looking for ways of getting funds to upgrade the local airport.
“This campaign gives us hope that even the provincial government will assist by paying municipalities on time for services rendered,” he said.
President of the Zululand Chamber, Sizwe Khumalo, said the growth of the northern region’s economy will, to a large extent, determined by the development of the regional infrastructure which include the harbor, rail and road networks, airport, among others.
“We appreciate that Treasury has decided to bring this campaign to this region. As business, we want to assist the government create more jobs and grow the economy. We want to see new businesses being started, new investments focusing on this region. We also get very concerned when some businesses are not able to be sustainable due to different reasons. But this campaign is one of the elements that will help the business community in this region to, at least, not look at government as the main cause of the crumbling of their businesses. I would like to pledge Treasury’s support for funding on development projects for the Zululand District,” he said.
Mayor of UThungulu District Municipality, Cllr Thembeka Mchunu, said as a district, they are fully behind the “Pay on Time” campaign because many businesses are largely dependent on payments from provincial government for the survival of their businesses.
“This campaign has a potential to help government fight fraud and corruption and ensure good governance,” she said.
Cronjé said the growth of the economy of Zululand Region largely depends of the infrastructure development of the area.
“We want both government and business to be pro-active and ensure that any possible hiccups in the payment system are address even before they occur. The campaign is now almost two months old, and we hope the benefits for this campaign are going to be shared by all parties involved,” concluded Cronjé.
Cronjé was thereafter accompanied by members of the Zululand Chamber, Mayor uf uThungulu District Municipality, Mayor of uMhlathuze Municipality, Head of Department, Simiso Magagula, Treasury’s senior management on a tour to the harbor, airport and IDZ to get a sense of investment prospects and development needs of these facilities.
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