Minister of Human Settlements Lindiwe Sisulu has ordered provinces and municipalities to settle unpaid claims of housing contractors and developers that are undisputed within seven days or face funding being withheld.
Sisulu and provincial MECs for human settlements met on Thursday with more than 500 contractors and developers to discuss how to immediately resolve and pay - as is required by law and in terms of a Cabinet decision - all due and payable invoices outstanding for than 30 days.
The meeting was convened after a national analysis revealed that more than R1 billion was owed to contractors by provinces.
“As Government we cannot sit with millions worth of work done by mainly black small contractors in the housing sector and not paid for‚ I want those undisputed invoices to be settled with seven days by Provinces and Municipalities‚” said Sisulu.
Sisulu told the Human Settlements Consultative Conference that she would be meeting with the Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan to request relevant measures to ensure that the national department was able to facilitate payment of backlogs that were due and payable to contractors within seven days.
“The legislation stipulates that anybody or company that does business with government should be paid within 30 days “added Sisulu.
She also indicated that her department would‚ after the State of the Nation Address‚ establish an Ombuds Office to deal with conflicts between contractors‚ provinces and municipalities.
“With the Ombuds Office‚ we are setting up a structure that will mediate‚ work with all stakeholders to resolve dispute and cut through red tape for the best interests of the human settlements sector as a whole‚” Sisulu added.
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