By Thapelo Molefe
President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed former Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene as the new chairperson of the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC), alongside five other members who will serve on the commission for five years.
Nene’s appointment, announced by the Presidency on Tuesday, comes in terms of Section 221 of the Constitution and Section 8 of the Financial and Fiscal Commission Act.
Former National Treasury official Malijeng Ngqaleni has been appointed deputy chairperson, while Bulelwa Dygrecia Nqadolo, Advocate Neo Khethang Tsholanku, Andrew Robert Donaldson and Astrid Ludin have been appointed as commission members.
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The appointments take effect from the date each member assumes office.
Nene, who previously served as finance minister, has also been a Member of Parliament and deputy minister of finance. He was also a member of the Local Organising Committee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Ngqaleni is currently a member of the FFC and previously served as Deputy Director-General for Intergovernmental Relations at National Treasury. She also held senior positions overseeing provincial and local government infrastructure as well as provincial budget and policy analysis.
Nqadolo has extensive experience in municipal and provincial financial governance. She previously served as Deputy Director-General for Municipal Financial Governance and held senior financial positions at the Eastern Cape Provincial Treasury.
Tsholanku is the Head of Corporate Legal Services at the South African Revenue Service (SARS). He previously headed criminal investigations at SARS and held senior legal and compliance positions at Eskom and the South African Broadcasting Corporation. He has also practised as an advocate and served as a public prosecutor.
Donaldson is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Cape Town’s Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit. He is a former Deputy Director-General at National Treasury, where he was responsible for the Budget Office and Public Finance, and previously served as acting head of the Government Technical Advisory Centre.
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Ludin previously served as a Deputy Commissioner at the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, where she oversaw financial markets and retirement fund supervision, as well as the regulator’s digital transformation.
She is also president of the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors and has held senior positions at several regulatory and policy institutions, including the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Competition Commission and the Prudential Authority.
The Presidency said the appointees’ “expertise, experience and institutional memory will add enormous value to the Commission.”
The FFC’s primary role is to make recommendations to Parliament, provincial legislatures, local government and other organs of state on financial and fiscal matters as provided for in the Constitution and other legislation.
“The Commission’s primary objective is to make recommendations to Parliament, the provincial legislatures, local government and other organs of state on financial and fiscal matters as envisaged in the Constitution and other national legislation,” the Presidency said.
The President congratulated the new appointees and wished them well in their new responsibilities.
Ramaphosa also thanked outgoing FFC chairperson Dr Patience Nombeko Mbava for her dedication and expertise during her tenure.
The chairperson serves as a full-time member of the commission, while the deputy chairperson and other members serve on a part-time basis.
