MONDAY, 11.30AM
GOVERNMENT’S financial team has received a new blow with the resignation of Hannes Smit, the director general of state expenditure, which comes hard on the heels of last week’s announcement that SA Revenue Service CEO Piet Liebenberg had resigned.
Smit announced on Friday that he will not renew his service contract when it expires at the end of this year, a move thatr will surely be a blow to government’s attempts to enforce fiscal discipline. Smit has been very successful at containing state expenditure, often in the face of severe hostility.
Meanwhile, Parliament’s finance committee has called on Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and Liebenberg together to explain the differences which led to Liebenberg’s decision to quit.