BBC’s new hotline to tackle late payments, BUSINESS REPORT (Cape Times)

BUSINESS REPORT (Cape Times) Page 19

NEF hands council R3bn grant IN A BID to address late payments for black entrepreneurs, with “complaints almost on a daily basis”, the Black Business Council (BBC) is establishing a hotline to monitor the payments with part of a R3 million grant from the National Empowerment Fund (NEF). The BBC's chief executive, Xolani Qubeka, said yesterday that though the complaints could not be quantified into amounts in late payments, the BBC “will be collecting surveys which will be published as data at the end of each year”. He said the business chamber had undertaken roadshows to eight provinces last year and late payments had topped the list of complaints. Last month President Jacob Zuma told a gala dinner of the Black Management Forum that the government was mulling drastic measures to push departments to pay small and medium-sized service providers on time, or at most a month late, to minimise the risk of these businesses failing because of lack of cash flow.

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