The Public Service Commission says the late payment of suppliers remains a major problem at national government level.
It revealed this in its quarterly bulletin. The commission says by the end of the second quarter of last year 33 000 invoices worth R1-billion had not been paid within the prescribed 30-day period.
Public Service Commissioner Anele Gxoyiya briefed the media in Pretoria.
‘It’s a problem because it means R1-billion worth of money was kept by the departments when it was supposed to be in circulation to the service providers who at times are struggling to pay their own employees as a result of being paid late by the department. But what we can indicate is that the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is the main contributing department in terms of the late payment of invoices. Those that are supposed to be enforcing the law are the ones that are flouting the very same provisions.”
Hybrid work
The Commission says an assessment on hybrid working arrangements in various government department including Education, Social Security, Home Affairs and Police found various limitations.
The Commission noted issues of capacity constraints, additional expenses, a shortage in tools of trade and inconsistencies in the implementation of performance management.
Gxoyiya says while onboarding the latest tools and technology for remote working will be important, not all public servants are eligible to work from home.
“DBSA, Public Works and Infrastructure need to conduct a cost benefit analysis for the implementation of hybrid work arrangements for selected non-essential services. And here we need to specify that when we speak about hybrid work conditions or working from home, we need to understand that there are those public servants who cannot work from home. You can’t officer for example secure a community from home. So, it is not applicable to everyone.”
