Opening balance
Behind the brain drain at treasury
Gigaba needs to select a rock-solid director-general from within national treasury to counter the damage done by Chris Malikane’s appointment
The departure from national treasury of Pravin Gordhan, his deputy Mcebisi Jonas, director-general Lungisa Fuzile — and probably soon Andrew Donaldson — represents a significant loss of expertise where SA can least afford it. Donaldson (59) has formally requested to take early retirement. He has been at treasury for 24 years, even longer than Fuzile, at 19 years. Most recently Donaldson headed the Government Technical Advisory Centre, a treasury agency tasked with building financial and project management skills in government. Though new finance minister Malusi Gigaba has promised that policy continuity and fiscal consolidation will be maintained, his appointment of Wits economics professor Chris Malikane as his special adviser has set the financial community’s teeth on edge. Malikane is a respected academic whose Marxist economic views are well known. He recently called for the revolutionary overthrow of "white monopoly capital" through the expropriation of land and the nationalisa...
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