It is unacceptable that the government fails to pay small business enterprises on time, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Tuesday.
”The turnaround time when it comes to servicing SMMEs [small, medium and micro enterprises] is something that I’m not proud of,” Mlambo-Ngcuka told guests at the Business Unity South Africa meeting in Johannesburg, to loud applause.
”I’m going to be … like Mother Christmas in a chimney trying to remind all my colleagues in government [to] pay [these businesses].
”We cannot have poor people subsidising the state because that is what’s happening effectively. It’s simply unacceptable,” she said.
Some businesses have closed as a result of the government’s failure to pay for services rendered, Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
Turning to the much-anticipated scorecards on black economic empowerment, she said she will be paying ”particular” attention.
It is unclear when the scorecards, which form part of the good codes of practice for black economic empowerment, will be released for public comment. They should have been released in June.
”I intend to give particular attention to the performance of the scorecards across industries, in particular the manner in which the so-called ‘soft issues’ are addressed.
”We think that government should lead by example,” she said, labelling human resources investment and procurement as the so-called ”soft issues”. — Sapa