The R63.7-million lawsuit slapped on the treasury by a company that went into liquidation partly due to a 12-year-old home affairs department debt, points to the treasury’s ineptitude in enforcing its own payment regulations. The treasury itself has labelled the lack of timeous payments by government departments as “counterproductive” to economic growth.
Documents that form part of the application filed in the Pretoria high court on 25 March by Double Ring’s liquidators show that both the treasury and the home affairs department acknowledged the debt owed by the latter to the company but that, despite its acknowledgment, home affairs still has not paid the service provider.