/ 7 May 2021

SAIGA announces eight new Council members

Saiga Phillip Rakgwale
SAIGA President Phillip Rakgwale

The Southern African Institute of Government Auditors (SAIGA) is pleased to announce that eight new members are joining its Council. The new Council leadership was elected by the members of the institute during the SAIGA 33rd Annual General Meeting held virtually on 30 April 2021. There were 27 Council nominees in total, the highest number the Institute has ever had since its inception in 1988. 

SAIGA President Phillip Rakgwale congratulated the new Council members for winning the “highly contested Council elections”. The eight new Council members are joining an organisation that has a legacy of 32 years, and their term of office will end in 2024. Coming from diverse career backgrounds in the audit profession, the newly elected Council members bring years of experience and leadership to help address issues of accountability and ethics in the public sector. All eight Council members are Registered Government Auditors (RGA) designation holders. 

SAIGA is a professional body that is known as an expertise repository and specialist in public sector auditing. It is a non-profit professional body that serves the public interest by strengthening capacity building in the public sector. 

The new Council members are:

Odwa Duda – currently an Acting Corporate Executive at the Auditor General South Africa (AGSA). He served in the SAIGA Council from 2018, and is the chairperson of the SAIGA Marketing, Branding and Communication Committee. In 2009, he was appointed as the first Deputy Business Executive for Free State and in August 2012 was appointed as the Business Executive at the AGSA. From 2001 to 2006, he was involved in the international pool of AGSA auditing various institutions of the United Nations (UN), which visited many developed and underdeveloped countries.

Rakshika Danilala – An accomplished and qualified Senior Audit professional, with more than 20 years’ Audit and Advisory experience within the public sector. She is currently responsible for the production of the Special Report on the Covid-19 audits and the General Report on the audit outcomes of government — a flagship report of the AGSA that provides insight into the financial and performance results of government institutions. Her audit experience also extends beyond local shores; she has served as a member of the UN board of auditors and audited a multitude of UN agencies. She has also played a significant role in the research and development of the audit methodology on the audit of performance information (also known as the audit of predetermined objectives in the public sector). She is recognised as a subject matter expert in this area, which is of increasing importance for integrated and sustainability reporting.

Success Marota – He has more than 18 years of experience in the accounting and auditing profession. His professional career has mainly been in the public sector, including being a Business Executive at the AGSA for three years. Other roles include being the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Johannesburg Social Housing Company (SOC) Ltd (JOSHCO) for two-and-a-half years and the CFO of Lesedi Local Municipality for two years. In his role at JOSHCO he also served as Financial Director on the municipal entity’s Board of Directors.

Vatiswa Matanda – Currently a Senior Manager at AGSA (Eastern Cape Business Unit). She has been with AGSA for 16 years, seven of those in senior leadership. She has worked at the Eastern Cape Provincial Treasury as an executive support to the DDG (Director Level). 

Kgothatso Maoko – An experienced Senior Forensic Auditor and Audit Assistant Manager. She has more than nine years’ auditing and investigations experience in state-owned entities, departments, Information Technology agencies, Manufacturing, Automotive, Aviation and Financial industries, with extensive experience in Risk, Governance, Compliance and Public sector auditing.

Elaine Joseph – Currently an Audit Manager at the AGSA, with eight years of experience in the audit profession. She has received many awards at the AGSA, including Most Likely to be the Business Executive Award (2019), Manager of the year (2018 and 2019), Special Corporate Executive Award (2017) and many more. 

Thabang Molapo – Currently a technical assistant manager at the AGSA’s Audit Research and Development (ARD) unit. His CV boasts experience in the education space where he occupied numerous roles, including that of public sector industry expert and examiner on UCT’s ground-breaking Postgraduate Diploma in Public Sector Accounting programme.

Lucky Mokoena – Currently serves the institute as Treasurer for the SAIGA Eastern Cape regional committee, and a former treasurer for the University of the Free State (UFS) chapter. A former residence committee academic at House Karee and best overall RC-Academics, UFS. Founding executive member and former treasurer of Commercio UFS, a student representative body of the economics and management sciences faculty. He also served trainees at the business unit level, as a deputy chairperson of the Trainee Auditor Forum at AGSA. He has more than six years’ combined workplace experience in external and internal auditing, preparation of annual financial statements and proactive assurance. He is currently an Assistant Manager at the AGSA.

“As we announce the eight new Council members, we are confident to say that SAIGA is ushering in a new dawn, formulating a vision 2030 strategy which will focus on global growth, and dominating the Southern African region,” said Rakgwale. 

He added: “This Council has come at the right time, when the Institute is driving capacity building in the public sector. We are excited as SAIGA members and as the president, we cannot wait for the role and utilisation of their ideas on how we can grow the membership in reaching universities and youth from the grassroots to ensure that youth can really become interested in contributing positively to the public sector and our country as a whole.” 

Rakgwale continued: “The new Council members are bringing a lot of public sector experience and have contributed positively in the industry for SAIGA to have a path of greatness and maintain institutional knowledge, as the auditing and accounting sphere has been hit very hard by issues of ethics and accountability — and state capture is a precise example of that.”

SAIGA CEO Russel Morena

SAIGA CEO Russel Morena congratulated the new SAIGA leadership on their appointments, and said: “We look forward to working with various institutions of higher learning and training to start offering the newly registered occupational qualification — Public Sector Auditor qualification, NQF Level 8 — and the hosting of our first annual conference from 15 to 17 November 2021. It is exciting to work with the new Council.” 

About the Southern African Institute of Government Auditors

The Southern African Institute of Government Auditors is a non-profit professional body that serves the public interest. Since its inception in 1988, the role and functions of SAIGA have been to serve the public sector and society by advancing public accountability and auditing in its widest sense. As a professional body, SAIGA represents a unique brand of professionals, the Registered Government Auditors (RGA) in the public sector and  academia. The RGA is considered the highest professional designation within the public sector auditing. Visit: www.saiga.co.za for more information.