Director General in the Treasury Lesetja Kganyaga is quitting the department, the Mail & Guardian can reveal.
A briefing by President Jacob Zuma and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is due to take place later this afternoon where it is expected this decision will be announced.
Kganyago’s contract expires in January next year, but he told Gordhan early this year that he will not “be involved in the next budget”, Treasury sources told the M&G.
Kganyago, who was born in Alexandra, Johannesburg, is one of the longest-serving directors general in government, having been Trevor Manuel’s right-hand man since 2004 when Manuel was finance minister. He joined Treasury in 1996 as the director of international commercial financing.
It is unknown what the 46-year old veteran government official will do next.
He is a graduate from the London University, where he studied economics, and has done various programmes and courses at international institutions like the World Bank and Harvard University in the United States.