Master Builders SA (MBSA) has postponed a planned class-action application against the government to recoup billions owed to its members for work done for municipalities, provincial and government departments, and state-owned enterprises in order to engage the National Treasury in a last-ditch attempt to resolve the problem.

A report in Business Report says a meeting between MBSA and officials from the office of the chief procurement officer at the National Treasury took place this week to discuss the issue. MBSA’s Roy Mnisi said its members had about R5.5bn due for payment by government entities that had been outstanding for more than 90 days, despite regulations to the contrary. Mnisi said about half of the MBSA’s 4 000 members had money owing by the government that had been outstanding for more than 90 days, but last year the amount owing was about R6bn.

He said the purpose of the meeting with the National Treasury was to come up with ideas on how to deal with the problem before it escalated into court action. Mnisi said the problem had been discussed at length with National Treasury officials and it would not be necessary at this stage for MBSA to proceed with the class action application proposed by MBSA members.

‘They took it very seriously and as a result we were of the view that we should give them an opportunity to work on the matter,’ he said. Mnisi added it was agreed that MBSA would submit to the National Treasury the specific claims submitted by its members to municipalities, government departments and state-owned enterprises that had been not been paid and been outstanding for more than 90 days, to enable the National Treasury to deal with the issue.

Full report in Business Report