Electricity & energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa faces a leadership crisis at the SA Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) after several board members, at odds with CEO Loyiso Tyabashe over finances, resigned.
The state entity is responsible for the country’s nuclear research & development and owns subsidiary NTP Radioisotopes, which produces medical radioisotopes globally.
The entity faces leadership fallout months before it hosts an African conference on research reactor safety in co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in November.
It initially suffered seven resignations at end-August: board chair Dave Nicholls, Hilton Lazarus, advocate Adila Chowan, Mosidi Makgae, Philemon Magampa, Bessie Makgopa and Suren Maharaj.
The department’s spokesperson, Tsakane Khambane, told Business Day three board members, including Nicholls, have since withdrawn their resignations.
The board and management are said to be at odds over the entity’s finances.
Business Day has seen a confidential report submitted to Ramokgopa in August accusing Tyabashe of making irregular decisions by spending millions in salary hikes for his executives while the state entity faced a cash crunch.
Tyabashe and CFO Precious Hawadi took the board to court in August when the board initiated a process to suspend them.
Makgae, an expert in energy and minerals, wrote the “confidential” report to Ramokgopa highlighting Tyabashe was given a 47.2% salary increase. This was because he earned less than his peers at state entities. In 2024 he earned R4.4m but by June 2025 he earned R5.3m annually.
Makgae, in the report, said Tyabashe directly went to Ramokgopa about delays in his salary increases — a move which she described as undermining the board’s authority.
After his salary increase Makgae said Tyabashe increased salaries of other executives after he and the CFO “misrepresented” to the board the entity’s financial position.
Makgae pinned the accusation on a preliminary audit report done on the entity after the salary increases.
“Following the conclusion of an internal audit investigation, the chair [Nicholls] recommended that the CEO and CFO be issued written warnings instead of being subjected to formal disciplinary proceedings. The chair also informed the Necsa board that the minister [Ramokgopa] would not support disciplinary action against the CEO,” Makgae’s report said.
Whistle-blower report
She said there was a whistle-blower report given to Ramokgopa which prompted the audit probe.
“In February 2025, notwithstanding the prior decision of the human resources, social and ethics committee of the board to reject a proposal for executive remuneration progression on the grounds of an insufficient budget and the exclusionary nature of the proposal, the CEO proceeded unilaterally to implement salary increases for certain senior executives.
“There was no budgetary provision for the increases, and the adjustments applied solely to senior executives excluding similarly underpaid executives and senior management.”
Makgae said the CFO and CEO provided inaccurate information to the board about the availability of funds for executive salary increases. “The board was led to believe that adjustments could be absorbed within the approved budget, which was not the case.”
The board without its chair, Nicholls, resolved to serve Tyabashe and Hawadi with a notice of intention to suspend in August.
Tyabashe and Hawadi went to court to challenge the decision, arguing that it was unlawful. The legal challenge, which was set to be heard this week in Pretoria high court, was withdrawn at Ramokgopa’s request.
Ramokgopa has not publicly spoken about what action he would take about the allegations levelled against the CEO and CFO.
Khambane told Business Day the minister was in the “process of filling the other vacant [board] positions and that process will be concluded in due course”. She did not answer questions about what the minister will do about the report.
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