From November: Carol Paton on why budget chief Michael Sachs quit the Treasury and why it matters
The bombshell resignation is as devastating to keeping the public finances on track as the firing of Pravin Gordhan was. Here’s why he did
The resignation of head of the budget office, Michael Sachs, a consummate public servant and professional, is a bombshell. As uncomfortable as Sachs is with the reality that his resignation was a political act — he is at pains to avoid playing politics — his decision is as devastating to the project of keeping the public finances on track as was the firing of Pravin Gordhan. Sachs resigned because the budget process — a carefully managed, transparent process informed by Treasury and presided over by the Ministers’ Committee on the budget — is dead. In its place we have two things: the President’s Fiscal Committee, headed by President Jacob Zuma and including a handful other cabinet ministers, none of whom have Treasury experience; and the "mandate paper" written by the Department of Monitoring and Evaluation, headed by Jeff Radebe and located in the presidency. Two weeks ago, Zuma called Treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane into his office and read to them a statement that he pl...
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