Steadying the ship of finance
The appointment of Dondo Mogajane may restore some of the lost confidence in national treasury
Finance minister Malusi Gigaba’s name has been in the headlines a lot lately, and mostly for the wrong reasons. The revelation that he appears to have facilitated the Guptas’ state capture project overshadowed news last week that he had appointed experienced treasury technocrat,
Dondo Mogajane, as his directorgeneral (DG).
The appointment was welcomed by the financial community and treasury staff because of the continuity and stability it brings to the institution. Treasury has found itself at the heart of the state capture narrative over the past two years and the weakening of the institution has contributed to the spate of recent downgrades to SA’S credit rating.
There had been fears that Gigaba would make a politically motivated appointment, so it surprised many when he appointed treasury veteran Mogajane, who served as former finance minister Pravin Gordhan’s chief of staff for four years and was also the chief operating officer under former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene.
Mogajane had been the acting DG since his predecessor, Lungisa Fuzile, resigned in mid-may following President Jacob Zuma’s axing of Gordhan and deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas in a midnight cabinet reshuffle.
Mogajane’s appointment undoes some of the damage Gigaba did to business and investor confidence when he appointed militant Marxist Wits economics professor Chris Malikane as his special adviser in April.
Mogajane had been very active on behalf of treasury in his association with the CEO Initiative, a grouping of business executives working with treasury, which welcomed his appointment. This should help to bolster Gigaba’s credibility with business, whose trust he will have to win if he has any hope of stemming the slide in business confidence caused by Zuma’s cabinet reshuffle.
But Gigaba’s biggest challenge will be to deliver a credible medium-term budget in October.
Here Mogajane’s assistance will be invaluable. He has a strong handle on the budget process, having served as the deputy DG of the public finance division since June 2015.
Mogajane has two honours degrees from the former University of Durban-westville (now the University of Kwazulu-natal), a master’s in public management from the University of Maryland and a qualification in budgeting and public financial management from Harvard’s John F Kennedy School of Government. Economists have welcomed Mogajane’s appointment but stressed that it needs to be followed up by the appointment of an equally solid chief procurement officer (CPO) in treasury. Schalk Human, a senior official in the division, has been acting in the role since Kenneth Brown resigned in December last year.
If Gigaba is serious about salvaging his credibility, he will confirm Human as the CPO as soon as possible.