Johannesburg, 30 July 2019 - The Chairman of the Board of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), announces that the SAICA Board has agreed to a request from the Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, and the Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, for SAICA to assist Government with the restructuring of its Eskom business through the establishment of the office of the Chief Restructuring Officer. SAICA will put together a team of specialists lead by SAICA’s CEO, Freeman Nomvalo.

The SAICA Board agreed to the request based on the importance to South Africa and its economy to avoid a possible downgrade at Eskom, which is likely to result in a sovereign downgrade if the Eskom restructuring is not urgently guided by responsible leadership.

At this point it should be mentioned that in the past SAICA has assisted Government with similar requests, particularly the multi-million rand programme assisting the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) with resourcing both finance and human resources functions with the necessary skills to improve the operational efficiency of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges throughout South Africa. This has been described as the most successful transformational project ever run in the sector.

The Board members of SAICA have agreed to assist Government in the following manner:

SAICA is to assist government with a programme aimed at reorganising the operational and funding structures of Eskom for the purpose of making it profitable while at the same time meeting the country’s energy needs;

This project will be part of SAICA’s Nation Building initiative;

For this purpose, a team of appropriately qualified resources will be sourced by SAICA from its membership base and elsewhere as appropriate;

The project will be led by the SAICA CEO who will spend some of his time on this project, which is currently estimated to conclude within a period of six months;

The resources SAICA secures will be funded by the Department of Public Enterprises and National Treasury.

This appointment once again demonstrates the standing and importance of SAICA and the chartered accountancy profession in the achievement of sustainable economic development in South Africa. More detail will be communicated as it becomes available. Freeman Nomvalo will only be available for media interviews after he has had further discussions with the various stakeholders involved.

Read ESCOM's clarification statement here.

About SAICA

The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), South Africa’s pre-eminent accountancy body, is widely recognised as one of the world’s leading accounting institutes. The Institute provides a wide range of support services to more than 46 000 members and associates who are chartered accountants [CAs(SA)], as well as associate general accountants (AGAs(SA)) and accounting technicians (ATs(SA)), who hold positions as CEOs, MDs, board directors, business owners, chief financial officers, auditors and leaders in every sphere of commerce and industry, and who play a significant role in the nation’s highly dynamic business sector and economic development.

SAICA Media Contacts Kulani Chauke Communication Coordinator: CorporateSAICA Brand Division 011 479 0698 kulanic@saica.co.za