Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan addresses the media
JOHANNESBURG – The Treasury has committed itself to ensuring that a settlement is reached with respect to the money owed by the Free State government to civil engineering group‚ Sanyati Holdings.
Sanyati went into liquidation earlier this year after the Free State government failed to honour payments amounting to R60m.
Malcolm Lobban‚ the former CEO of Sanyati‚ said he had struggled to work with the Free State‚ Limpopo and Eastern Cape.
Treasury has had the Free State roads department‚ most departments in Limpopo and some in the Eastern Cape under national administration all of this year.
The opposition Democratic Alliance at the weekend said it had received a letter from Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan (pictured on your left) detailing the intervention.
“We deeply regret‚ however‚ that the payment was not made in time to save the company and the approximately 2‚000 workers whose jobs were lost. Our initial request to the National Treasury to release the R60m owed to Sanyati was made almost three months ago‚ so it is unfortunate that it took so long to reach settlement that the company could not be saved‚” DA shadow minister of finance‚ Tim Harris said.
“National Treasury identified several breaches of the Public Finance Management Act by the Free State Provincial Roads Department in their letter to me. But the most common breach of the Act by government is of the clause that requires service providers be paid within 30 days.
“Chronic disregard for this requirement across government puts numerous companies at risk and imposes a massive cost on the country in terms of jobs and economic growth. On-time payment by government is an essential national standard that must be enforced by National Treasury‚” he said. - Sapa