working-capital

Stack of government invoices against outline of African continent, illustrating late payment problem

treasury

South Africa already has the 30-day cap the EU could never pass. Here is what it is worth.

The EU fought for years over a mandatory 30-day payment cap and abandoned it. South Africa already has one. So does Nigeria on paper. The rule is not the gap; the enforcement is. While invoices age for months, the fraud window stays wide open.

Stack of government invoices on a desk, some overdue, against a Johannesburg office backdrop

treasury

Africa wrote the 30-day rule first. The UK built the gate Africa still does not have.

Africa has the statute. South Africa's Treasury Regulation 8.2.3 has mandated 30-day supplier payments since 2005. Nigeria's BPP exists to enforce procurement discipline. Kenya's PPADA sets payment obligations. None of them have the gate the UK just built: a clause that says late payers cannot bid.