Michael Sachs, a former head of the National Treasury’s budget office, is among the leading contenders to become director-general of the department, say sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
The post, which over the past decade has proved strategic in the fight against state capture, was left vacant this week when Dondo Mogajane called it a day after five years.
Treasury veteran Ismail Momoniat was moved into the position temporarily this week.
Sachs is teaching economics and fiscal policy at Wits School for Governance. He worked for nine years at the headquarters of the ANC, where he co-ordinated economic policy.
The Treasury has not made a final decision on who will take over the role, which was advertised on Wednesday.
Appointing Sachs to this position would mark a dramatic return to the department after his resignation in 2017 in an apparent protest against former president Jacob Zuma’s attempts to push through half-baked plans to provide free tertiary education.
Sachs declined to comment on the process or say whether he had applied for the job.
Finance minister Enoch Godongwana said he had not seen the master list of applications.
Sources also said that other potential candidates for the role — which pushed back against the government’s plans in the middle of the last decade to sign off the proposed R1.6-trillion nuclear deal — include Kenneth Creamer, and three other internal candidates.
Creamer is said to have been working at the ANC economic transformation subcommittee when Godongwana was head of this influential body of the governing party.
Internally, the Treasury is expected to consider applications from Duncan Pieterse, head of asset and liability management, and Edgar Sishi, who at present heads the budget office, according to the sources. The candidates will all be vying for the role now being filled temporarily by Momoniat, a Treasury veteran whose appointment as acting director-general was announced on Wednesday.
“He is the dean of the National Treasury in a sense that he has been there for the longest and Treasury has a long track record in finding talent from within its ranks,” Sachs commented in reaction to Momoniat’s temporary appointment. “Of course he is not the youngest person you can imagine,” said Sachs.
“So I expect they will need to also find a candidate to [hold] the position permanently.”
Momoniat, who was deputy director-general for tax and financial sector policy for 22 years, assumes the position immediately, and will remain in the acting position until a new director-general is appointed even though he is due to retire formally at the end of August.
There is a possibility that Momoniat will stay on longer to work on specific projects.
Godongwana said that Momoniat brings a “wealth of experience” to his new position having worked at the National Treasury for 27 years.
“I am confident that Mr Momoniat will keep a steady hand on the till of the organisation, steering the department to meet our strategic agenda, while ensuring continuity and stability,” the minister said. Momoniat said in an interview with Business Day that the challenges facing the Treasury remained the promotion of economic growth to create jobs, protecting the fiscal framework including stabilising debt, fighting corruption and rebuilding the capacity of the state.
Analysts say that political savvy will be as important as fiscal prudence for the incoming administrative head of government’s finances.
“The choice of a new director-general would be better done with greater clarity of what kind of an institution a Treasury of the future should be, and what kind of people it should hire,” said political analyst Jabulani Sikhakhane.
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