Latest news with #BASVersion6
IOL News
07-05-2025
- Health
- IOL News
Premier Ntuli demands accountability amidst KZN's government crisis
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli. Image: Supplied IN A BID to get his KwaZulu-Natal's provincial government in order, Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli has called for accountability from his MECs amid the struggles of the Department of Health and the limping-along Department of Education. Ntuli held a marathon media briefing with all members of the Provincial Executive Council (MECs) present, following its normal cabinet meeting in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday. The briefing came as the KwaZulu-Natal Health Department, led by MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Mngadi, faced a financial crisis, having racked up an alarming R1.7 billion debt to service providers. As a result, several key health projects had to be halted, leading to a protest outside the provincial headquarters in Pietermaritzburg on Monday. The angry service providers blocked the entrance, demanding their overdue payments.' Ntuli condemned the actions of the protestors, saying, 'We also wish to condemn the barricading of the offices of the Department of Health by disgruntled service providers, on Monday. No dispute, however large, should be resolved through violence in KwaZulu-Natal. We live in a constitutional democracy and we must always use legal avenues to settle our disagreements.' Simelane-Mngadi, while addressing the matter, confirmed the R1.7 billion debt and explained that the department was cutting back on certain projects to free up funds to pay service providers. 'We are dealing with the issue, and we will cut some projects and divert the saved funds toward payments to service providers,' she said. She also mentioned that negotiations were underway with service providers, including those with monthly payments over R500,000, to spread their invoices over two months. The department's financial difficulties have caused significant disruptions to health services across the province, with several service providers halting operations due to unpaid invoices. On the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP), which had more than 1700 services, Ntuli said the 22% unpaid service providers of the NSNP, under the education department, would receive their payments on Friday, May 9. 'We are pleased to report that on April 24, 2025, at least 78% of the payments had been successfully processed. Attempts to finalise the remaining payments on April 25 and May 2 were unsuccessful. This was due to technical difficulties linked to the new financial system, BAS Version 6, said Ntuli. The department of education was also battling increased controversy stemming from the non-payment of Grade R teachers in KZN. The Daily News' report, this week, highlighted their plight after they were not paid their April salaries. Many teachers, including Nondumiso Ngcobo, a Grade R teacher at Motala Primary School in Pinetown, said the non-payment has plunged her finances into disarray. Education MEC Sipho Hlomuka said: 'It is not true that some teachers won't be paid. In terms of the educators for Grade 1, there was a challenge because, we unfortunately did not renew their contracts in time. But they have been paid." He added: "We are human beings and we make mistakes." Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕
IOL News
07-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Service providers storm KZN Health and Education departments
The National School Nutrition Programme is a vital lifeline for over 9 million poor learners across the country. Image: Supplied TWO KwaZulu-Natal departments are struggling to pay their service providers, which has led to the latter storming their offices to demand their overdue payments. The KZN departments of Health and Education were on Monday confronted by unpaid service providers who demanded their payments and gave the departments ultimatums. Companies that are service providers for the South African National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP), popularly known as the school feeding scheme, said they have no idea how they will manage to survive after months of being unpaid by the Education Department. The service providers allege the department has been making empty promises for some time. Some said they are still waiting for payment for delivery of food from last year. The NSNP serves more than 2 million pupils across the province in 5400. A representative of the school feeding scheme service providers in KZN, Thabang Mncwabe, said service providers are going through a difficult time. "There are service providers who have not been paid since last year. Some are paid insufficient amounts. We don't know who takes the rest and where they take it because the national Department of Education pays out the full amount," said Mncwabe. "We had been relying on Ithala; since it's now closed, we're now at the mercy of loan sharks. Even they are tired of us because we fail to pay them. We keep looking over our shoulders because we owe loan sharks." The Department of Education promised to pay them on Thursday. In a statement the department said 78% of the service providers were paid in April and said the rest weren't paid because of glitches with the implementation of a new financial system. The head of the department, Nkosinathi Ngcobo, apologised to the service providers who were not paid. Today, the department issued a new statement. "As of 24 April 2025, 78% of the payments were successfully processed. Subsequent attempts to finalise the remaining payments on 25 April and 2 May were unsuccessful due to technical difficulties linked to the implementation of a new financial system, BAS Version 6, which is an upgrade from the previous BAS Version 5. The National Treasury's IT team is currently working around the clock to resolve the system failures. "The payment run that was scheduled to take place yesterday, 06 May 2025, was successful for the remaining 22% of unpaid service providers, and they will receive their payments on 09 May 2025. The department has full records of all unpaid service providers. These lists have been shared with district offices to ensure that affected service providers are kept informed and that no further disruptions occur in the provision of meals to learners. "We acknowledge the concerns raised by our valued service providers and wish to assure them that the department is doing everything possible to resolve the technical glitches affecting payment processes. The problem has nothing to do with the financial difficulties of the department, for the NSNP is paid from the grant allocation. "We remain committed to transparency, timeous communication, and the uninterrupted provision of meals to our learners across the Province of KwaZulu-Natal. As a department, we would like to thank all stakeholders for their patience and cooperation as we work to stabilise the system and maintain the integrity of the National School Nutrition Programme,' said Ngcobo.
IOL News
05-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Payment issues resolved for KZN's National School Nutrition Programme service providers
KZN Department of Education updates payment status for National School Nutrition Programme service providers. Image: Independent Newpapers Archives The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has updated the status of payments to National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) service providers following alleged food shortages due to payment issues. In a statement, the KZN department said as of April 24, 2025, 78% of payments (R161 million out of R205 million) were properly handled. Attempts to complete remaining payments on April 25 and May 2 failed owing to technical issues related to the introduction of BAS Version 6, an upgrade from BAS Version 5. The National Treasury's IT staff is working around the clock to fix system faults. The payment run is reportedly set for Monday, May 5, and all unpaid service providers will get reimbursements on May 8. The department said that it maintains complete records of all unpaid service providers. These lists have been shared with district offices to keep affected service providers aware and prevent interruptions in meals for learners.
IOL News
30-04-2025
- Health
- IOL News
KZN Health resolves service provider payment delays after food supply issues at hospitals
The KZN Department of Health says service providers are being paid after a National Treasury system transition affected payments last week. The payment delays impacted food supply to some KZN hospitals. Picture: Pixabay Image: Pixabay The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health says it has resumed payments to service providers following a delay caused by a system transition, an issue that contributed to food supply issues at some healthcare facilities. Acting Head of Department (HOD) Penny Msimang said in a recent radio interview delays occurred after the National Treasury implemented a change to the Basic Accounting System (BAS), which the department uses to process payments. 'There was a transition from the system that we use to pay service providers called Basic Accounting System (BAS). National Treasury had a transition from Version 5 to Version 6 of BAS. So during that process, we were not able to process the payments of some service providers." 'However, that has been sorted, and as of last week, we are making those payments,' said Msimang. But the Democratic Alliance (DA) has slammed the department for what it calls a preventable crisis, saying the department had enough time to plan for the transition and should have communicated with service providers to avoid disruptions to essential services. DA KZN spokesperson on health Dr Imran Keeka said: 'This matter was foreseen and raised long before it became a crisis. The Department knew about the transition to BAS Version 6. Treasury communicated about it, and planning should have been done accordingly.' He said the non-payment of service providers led to hospitals being unable to provide adequate food, including at Northdale and Vryheid hospitals. 'People's lives depend on hospitals running properly, including food provision. This matter should have been better managed,' said Keeka. The incident at Northdale comes after a power outage at the hospital last week resulted in hospital staff resorting to cooking food on an open fire outside. A video of the incident circulated on social media. The department said that disciplinary action would be taken against the staff as cooking outside on an open fire was against regulations. The Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK) Party has since strongly condemned Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane's handling of this matter, accusing the department of shifting blame to workers instead of addressing infrastructure failures and the lack of contingency planning. 'The MK Caucus views their actions not as misconduct, but as heroic intervention at a time when the Department's systems had collapsed,' said MK Caucus Whip Siphiwe Mbatha Moyo. 'We strongly reject the scapegoating of workers while leadership hides behind bureaucratic language.' The MKP said it was 'completely unrealistic and inhumane to expect kitchen staff, in the middle of a blackout crisis, to coordinate sourcing food from other hospitals without clear operational support,' and demanded that disciplinary measures against the staff be withdrawn. It also called for a full forensic investigation into the state of hospital infrastructure and emergency response systems. Responding to the incident, Msimang confirmed that there had been a power outage in the area, and that although the hospital has three generators, one of them which powered the kitchen, failed during the blackout. She added that the generator was off for about 10 hours and only affected a section of the hospital. 'The one generator that stopped working was supplying power to the kitchen. As that generator was not working, plans were made to have the meals prepared at a nearby hospital in Richmond, but there was miscommunication between the CEO and the person responsible for the kitchen, who saw that time was running and decided to start an open fire and cook outside.' 'Although they were trying to help, we do not commend this act as the Department of Health because we have procedures to follow in such instances. There were also safety concerns because someone might get burnt and hygiene, as the food may be affected.' THE MERCURY
