Small- and medium-sized businesses still waiting for the Road Agency Limpopo (RAL) to pay their outstanding bills may soon receive some relief. RAL apparently owes around R70 million to contractors and SMMEs who rendered services and never got paid.

Businesses have been severely paralyzed and wrecked by non-payment or delays by RAL, but Transport MEC Lehlogonolo Masoga says they are set to get a new lease on life. Masoga met with the board of RAL last Friday during an emergency meeting. He described the current state of affairs in the agency as unacceptable.

MEC Masoga says improved measures will be instituted to accelerate the payments of all outstanding invoices from service providers doing business with RAL. A firm has been appointed that will take at least three weeks to verify invoices, but payments are expected to be made in the fourth week.

Masoga also instructed the Board that, where approval is needed, it should be obtained without delay, even if it means the board meets every weekend. This means that within a month all legitimate invoices shall have been paid.

The MEC asked RAL service providers to allow the process to take this speedy course to ensure that only correct invoices where work had been done, quality assurance had been verified and the Limpopo people got value for money, are paid. He apologised on behalf of RAL for the hardship that the delays have caused to the service providers and assured everybody that going forward and under his watch this kind of situation shall be avoided at all costs.

The spokesperson for the Department of Transport, Joshua Kwapa, said there had been a slow pace in processing payments to service providers at RAL that resulted in contractors' complaining directly to the MEC’s office. “This challenge has resulted in contractors, the majority of which are SMMEs, struggling to survive because of non-payment."

"The Board indicated that a firm of civil and structural engineers had been appointed to verify all outstanding invoices with a view to accelerating the payments of all outstanding legitimate invoices and providing guidance to deal with problematic ones,” he said. “These measures include a simplified and rigorous but effective verification process to ensure that the correct invoices for work done are paid without delay."