Sign of progress at the top of Treasury
• Vacancy rate at senior management level was 19% at the end of November
It might have taken more than a year, but in a sign that the government is finally moving to fill key positions and address questions about capacity at the National Treasury, it has made two permanent leadership appointments in recent weeks. The cabinet has announced the permanent appointment of Duncan Pieterse as the deputy director-general for economic policy and Tshepiso Moahloli as the deputy director-general for assets and liability management.
It might have taken more than a year, but in a sign that the government is finally moving to fill key positions and address questions about capacity at the National Treasury, it has made two permanent leadership appointments in recent weeks.
The cabinet recently announced Duncan Pieterse the deputy director-general for economic policy; and Tshepiso Moahloli the deputy directorgeneral for assets and liability management at the Treasury — a post central to the management of the government’s borrowing activities at a time when the country is facing an unprecedented crisis as a result of the economic hit from Covid-19.
Both officials previously held the positions in acting capacities. These divisions — along with other units inside the Treasury — had been without permanent heads for more than a year, some even longer, despite a pledge last October to get the cabinet to provide a special undertaking to fast-track senior appointments at the department.
The Treasury, which is managing SA’s fragile finances through the worst recession since the Great Depression, has traditionally been a bulwark of expertise within the government. But it was targeted during the Jacob Zuma administration for its resistance to state capture, with the axing of a number of finance ministers in relatively rapid succession, starting with Nhlanhla Nene in 2015, and putting Des van Rooyen into the job for all of four days.
The appointments of Pieterse and Moahloli reduce the number of the Treasury’s most senior deputy director-general posts with acting heads from five out of 10 to three.
However, other positions — notably the chief procurement officer, who plays a pivotal role in guarding against the abuse of government procurement processes, and the accountantgeneral, who sets the accounting rules for the public sector — remain without permanent heads.
Moahloli, who holds a master’s of economics and an MBA from the University of Cape Town, has been at the Treasury for a decade, starting out as senior analyst for foreign debt management.
She has been acting head of asset and liability management since October 2019.
VACANCY RATES
Pieterse holds a PhD in economics from the University of Cape Town and a master’s in public administration from Harvard University. He started as a director for microeconomic policy in 2013 and has extensive experience in economic policy analysis and research, the Treasury said.
His team produces the macroeconomic forecast that underpins the fiscal framework, contributes to economic analysis of the budget process and conducts research that informs the government’s economic reform agenda.
The announcements notwithstanding, the Treasury continues to battle high vacancy rates in its upper salary bands.
Though the Treasury’s overall vacancy rate sits at 11.8%, the vacancy rate at senior management level was a much higher 19% at the end of November.
Director-general Dondo Mogajane recently told parliament that it continues to lose skilled people to the private sector and that it has become “a hunting ground” for many financial companies.
Though there is capacity within the organisation and it has made 22 promotions internally, it is “very challenging to address the vacancy rate”, Mogajane said.