The interim director-general at the National Treasury, Ismail Momoniat, will remain in the position for 12 months beyond August as the department continues its search to replace Dondo Mogajane, who vacated the position in June, say sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Though the search for a permanent replacement for Mogajane continues, Business Day understands that Momoniat’s contract has been extended by a year to work on specific projects, such as finalising SA’s antiterrorism and anti-money laundering efforts to avoid greylisting by the Financial Action Task Force (FTAF), as well as the medium-term budget policy statement in October.
The Prudential Authority (PA), a division of the Reserve Bank that regulates financial institutions, warned recently that SA’s largest banks are at “high risk” of falling foul of money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing activity.
“The nature and extent of money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation of financing threats the banking sector in SA is facing is assessed to be a high risk,” the PA said in a report.
The Paris-based FATF is an intergovernmental body that assesses countries’ ability to combat illicit financial activity. It gave SA 18 months to tackle shortcomings in its ability to prevent financial crimes outlined in an evaluation report in October 2021.
Mogajane recently left his position as director-general of the Treasury after 23 years of working for the department. In July, he was appointed chair of the Government Employees Pension Fund board.
Momoniat, who was deputy director-general for tax and financial sector policy for 22 years, was moved into the position in June and was initially expected to go into retirement at the end of August, after which a new permanent director-general would be appointed.
Momoniat is central to the Treasury team that is rushing against the February 2023 deadline by FATF to address regulatory weaknesses regarding terrorist financing, customer due diligence and reporting suspicious transactions — as well as 11 immediate outcomes covering areas such as international co-operation, supervision, beneficial ownership and money-laundering prosecutions.
“Mr Momoniat will only act as the director-general while the recruitment process to fill the position is being finalised,” the National Treasury told Business Day.
The Treasury has not made a final decision on who will take over the role, which was advertised in June.
Michael Sachs, a former head of the National Treasury’s budget office, is said to have declined the director-general post, according to insiders, leaving the race for the third-in-command of SA’s national purse wide open.
Sachs is teaching economics and fiscal policy at the Wits School for Governance. He worked for nine years at the headquarters of the ANC, where he co-ordinated economic policy.
He declined to comment on the continuing process to appoint a new director-general.
Business Day previously reported that the Treasury is considering various internal candidates for the position. This includes Duncan Pieterse, head of asset and liability management, and Edgar Sishi, who at present heads the budget office.
External candidates that could be considered for the position include Kenneth Creamer, who is part of the ANC's economic transformation technical team.
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