Hope for guardian of SA’s fiscal health and acceptable standards

Is there a brain drain at the Treasury? The short answer is no. And the long answer is that giving meaning to the question is a bit more complicated and nuanced, and depends exactly where you are looking.

The Treasury has been built up over the years into an institutional monolith, with powers that are embedded and entrenched in the Constitution.

Chapter 13 of the Constitution gives life and expression to the Treasury’s mandate, compelling it to do several things, including enforcing compliance with acceptable norms and standards.

There is also a suite of other legislation — including the Public Finance Management Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act — and regulations that provide guidance on how the fiscus gives expression to its constitutional mandate.

“The National Treasury must enforce compliance with the measures established in terms of subsection (1), and may stop the transfer of funds to an organ of state if that organ of state commits a serious or persistent material breach of those measures,” says the section in chapter 13 of the Constitution spelling out Treasury control.

So by law, and the way of the Constitution, the Treasury is empowered to carry out its duties to ensure that the country is on a sound fiscal footing.

Yes, Lungisa Fuzile did leave as director-general a year before his contract was due to expire. And Andrew Donaldson recently bade farewell to the institution, but do not despair — he’s not entirely lost to the Treasury.

Although Donaldson will not be at the Treasury full time, there are background conversations about tapping into his expertise.

When Fuzile — who has been credited widely with running a well-oiled machine and has often been referenced as a model public servant — left the Treasury, he credited those who reported to him for his successful tenure there. He was quite frank about the fact that his subordinates made him look good.

Ismail Momoniat, head of tax, and Dondo Mogajane, deputy director-general of public finance, are still at the Treasury. Mogajane is now the acting director-general. Also, Michael Sachs remains at the budget office.

Collectively, these three technocrats hold a wealth of institutional memory. Any one of them could easily take over from Lungisa because they all entered the institution more or less at the same time.

Had they departed from the Treasury en masse, however, then one could safely say that the institution was in the grip of a brain drain that could plunge it into crisis.

Unlike many government institutions, the Treasury is relatively decentralised. Lower-level employees are given a chance to shine if they can prove that they are capable and competent.

THE REAL QUESTION IS NOT ABOUT CAPACITY, BUT WHETHER GIGABA WILL TAP INTO ITS TALENT TO CREATE AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT

At chief directorate level, there is also a readily available pool of talent. It is at this level that most of the hard graft takes place and where the rising stars of the institution cut their teeth.

So, technically, the real question is not about the Treasury’s institutional capacity, but whether or not Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba will tap into its talent and create an enabling environment for those who stayed put.

We should also be asking ourselves why it has become customary among members of the political set to cite the Treasury as being in opposition to “radical economic transformation”, especially in the current, poisoned political environment.

That is the real poser for the Treasury.