Moves to fill top Treasury posts
THE top management at the Treasury is soon to change significantly, with five positions for deputy directors-general vacant.
The vacancies include the heads of public finance, international relations, the chief procurement officer, the Office of the Accountantand the head of the Treasury’s Government Technical Advisory Centre.
Two arose from recent retirements: Andrew Donaldson as head of the Government Technical Advisory Centre and Kenneth Brown as chief procurement officer.
Several of the other vacancies have existed for some time.
Interviews were held three weeks ago and the process was still in progress, said Mayihlome Tshwete, spokesman for Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba.
The appointments will need to be approved by the cabinet.
The outcome will be of keen interest to the investment and business community and credit ratings agencies, which will see it as an indicator of the extent to which Gigaba intends to ensure continuity at the Treasury. A decision by Treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane last week to reshuffle three officials in acting positions, including acting chief procurement officer Schalk Human, has caused unease in the department and opposition parties, who interpreted it as a cleanout of staff loyal to former finance minister Pravin Gordhan.
The position of chief procurement officer is regarded as particularly important, as the office plays a role in overseeing and monitoring government procurement. The previous incumbent, Brown, faced death threats and was smeared in the media.
The move was preceded by a hearing in parliament on Tuesday at the standing committee on public accounts in which Mogajane and Gigaba were grilled over the mismanagement of the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS), a decade-long incomplete project to modernise government information technology systems.
The auditor-general has flagged the IFMS for various lapses in internal controls and is in discussion with Treasury officials on whether to give the department’s annual financial statements qualified status.
The previously Gupta-owned television channel ANN7 last week blamed Gordhan and Human for the IFMS bungle, accusing them of corruption.
In a special report on the IFMS on the night of the parliamentary hearings, ANN7 repeatedly displayed Gordhan’s and Human’s pictures with headlines alleging wrongdoing and the loss of billions of rand.
In an interview on Sunday, Mogajane said his actions had been misinterpreted by Treasury staff and he intended to explain it further when he returned from China, where he is attending the Brics summit.
Mogajane said Human had on several occasions asked to be relieved as acting chief procurement officer. — BDLive