Johannesburg - Operation Bhadala is yielding positive results with R927 million being paid to suppliers owed money by the Gauteng Provincial Government.
Operation Bhadala was launched by Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane during the provincial Budget Vote to ensure that all monies owed to suppliers for service rendered during the 2008/9 financial year are paid by the end of September 2009.
The invoices include those of the current financial year up to 30 June 2009.
The project, led chief financial officers of all the provincial government departments and supported by finance and procurement practitioners, is now in its third week.
"This is a significant achievement given the nature of the outstanding matters that had to be dealt with," said the Gauteng Service Shared Centre (GSSC) in a statement.
It further thanked suppliers who had heeded the call to submit the necessary supporting documentation to facilitate payment.
"We are satisfied with the response of the suppliers and the continued support the operation has received from the media," said GSSC.
It said it was confident that the project remained on course and should pay the remaining R727 million by the end of the deadline for the operation.
"We have now put in place a concurrent process that will ensure that we meet our obligations in accordance with the Public Finance Management Act and Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment strategy of paying our suppliers within 30 days of receipt of invoices," the GSSC.
At the conclusion of the operation, the GSSC said it would share with the media and the public at large some of the lessons learnt and what measures are being put in place to ensure that the challenges they faced do not happen in the future.
"As part of this exercise, we are considering keeping the War Room Task Team for at least another three to six months so that we hit the ground running with the implementation of the recommendations in the ''close out report''.
