Duncan Pieterse, who helped craft the government’s solution to Eskom’s debt despair, has been appointed director general at the national treasury.
Duncan Pieterse, who helped craft the government’s solution to Eskom’s debt despair, has been appointed director general at the national treasury.
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni confirmed Pieterse’s appointment on Thursday during a post-cabinet media briefing. The treasury — charged with steering South Africa’s economic policy — has been without a permanent director general since June 2022, when ministry veteran Ismail Momoniat took over in an acting capacity.
Momoniat filled in following the departure of Dondo Mogajane, who has since been appointed as the chief executive of the Moti Group. Momoniat’s leadership proved crucial during the government’s last-minute efforts to ward off South Africa’s greylisting, though it was unsuccessful.
Pieterse most recently served as the head of the asset and liability department, where he was in charge of the treasury’s debt and funding programme. Pieterse played a key role in developing the Eskom Debt Relief Bill, which will see the beleaguered electricity utility receiving a R254 billion bailout from the government.
The new director general joined the treasury in 2013 when Pravin Gordhan led as finance minister.
Pieterse will now work alongside Enoch Godongwana, who is preparing to deliver his medium-term budget policy statement in about two months’ time.
Faced with the reality of lower-than-projected economic growth and an unfavourable fiscal picture, the treasury will again have to balance spending cuts and the country’s deteriorated outlook.