When did you last write to a client’s chief financial officer about an unpaid invoice?
For most suppliers the honest answer is never. Sage found in 2018 that 40 percent of South African small businesses avoid chasing payment to protect the relationship. The national numbers show the same reluctance: in 2025/26 departments paid 475,421 invoices late, and Treasury’s query address for suppliers received 402 complaints.
Escalation done well protects the relationship. It gives the people inside the client who want to pay you the paper they need to do it.
Before you escalate: is the pack complete?
Escalating an incomplete invoice wastes your strongest step. Check you hold:
- the order, purchase order or contract, with the order number;
- proof of delivery: delivery note, attendance registers, reports or minutes;
- the acceptance record: goods received note, service entry sheet, completion certificate or signed timesheets;
- a valid tax invoice quoting the order number;
- your CSD summary report with verified bank details and tax status;
- proof of the date the client received the invoice, the date the 30 days count from;
- a statement of account and a log of every follow-up with dates, names and reference numbers.
If something is missing, fix that first. Treasury, the CFO and a court will all ask for the same seven documents.
The ladder
| Step | When | To whom | What to send |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Day 0 | Accounts payable | The complete pack. Ask for written acknowledgement and confirmation it is captured on their system |
| 2 | Day 31 | Accounts payable, copied to the project manager or end user | A short written reminder citing Treasury Regulation 8.2.3 (or MFMA section 65(2)(e) for a municipality), the invoice number, receipt date and amount, asking for the payment date |
| 3 | About day 40 | The CFO, then the accounting officer (Director-General, Head of Department or Municipal Manager) | A formal letter with the pack attached, asking for the reason for non-payment and a committed date in writing |
| 4 | After the CFO step, or sooner if nobody responds | National Treasury: 30daysqueries@treasury.gov.za | The pack, your follow-up log and the institution’s name |
| 5 | If still unresolved | The Public Service Commission or the Public Protector | A complaint with the same pack |
| 6 | When the money matters more than the relationship | An attorney | Letter of demand, then summons |
What Treasury does with your query. National institutions are escalated to their CFO. Provincial ones go to the provincial treasury, to the office of the Provincial Accountant-General. Municipal ones go to Treasury’s MFMA Chief Directorate. Treasury then replies to you with the reason for non-payment and a possible date.
How to climb it and keep the client
- Say at kick-off that you follow the ladder. “Our finance team follows up on day 31 and writes to the CFO’s office on day 40, as the regulation allows. It is our standard process for every client.” Said early and calmly, it reads as a process. Raised for the first time on day 90, it reads as a threat.
- Name the person who can help, and help them. The project manager who received the work usually wants you paid. Give them what they need: the acceptance reference, the order number, the date received.
- Keep every message short and factual. Invoice number, amount, date received, what you need, by when. No adjectives.
- Log everything. The log is evidence at step 4 and at step 6. It also stops two people at your firm chasing the same invoice in different directions.
“If you just send it, that’s hoping.” Thandwefika Tshabalala said it on a call about collections cadence on 24 October 2026, and it is the whole argument for a ladder: sending the invoice opens the work of collecting.
The legal points to raise with your attorney
- Interest. Where the contract sets no rate, mora interest runs at repo plus 3.5 percentage points: 10.75 percent from 1 November 2026.
- Notice. The Supreme Court of Appeal held on 16 October 2025 (Goldfields Logistics, 2025 ZASCA 152) that a claim for the contract price does not need the six-month notice under Act 40 of 2002. Many attorneys serve it anyway.
- Judgment. A final order against a department must be paid within 30 days; after that the relevant treasury has 14 days, and then the sheriff may attach movable state property.
- Prescription. An unpaid invoice prescribes after three years. A written acknowledgement or a part payment interrupts it.
Already past day 40 on an invoice? Bring it to a 30-minute Stuck Invoice Diagnostic. We will check the pack and tell you which step to take next. Book a call · Download the 30-day rule brief · Back to the guide
General information for suppliers as at December 2026. It does not replace advice from an attorney on a specific claim.
Book a Stuck Invoice Diagnostic · Cash Release Calculator · The full guide: getting paid by government on time
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