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Former Accountant-General Freeman Nomvalo was announced on Thursday as the new head of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica) as calls grow for the industry to deal with several scandals involving high profile accountants.
He replaces acting CEO Fanisa Lamola who took over in March 2018 from Terrence Nombembe. He was seconded to the Zondo Commission of Inquiry as head of investigations.
His five year term at the accounting body finishes at the end of January. Saica has faced calls from Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan and former finance minister Trevor Manuel to speed up disciplinary cases against high profile accountants accused of wrongdoing.
The list of allegedly errant accountants includes former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste, ex KPMG executives, previous Eskom CFO Anoj Singh and former VBS Mutual Bank executives.
Saica’s chairperson Lwazi Bam said in a statement that Nomvalo is a "steadfast operator that has been given the mandate to restore trust in the chartered accountancy profession”.
“The Board believes that Saica will benefit from Mr Nomvalo’s experience with the broader accounting profession, specifically his previous role in the development of the accounting profession legislation and policy,” Bam said.
Nomvalo, while not a chartered accountant, has several years of experience in financial management. He holds a BCom Honours from the University of South Africa and worked as Treasury's Accountant-General between 2004 and 2013.
The Accountant-General is responsible for the accounting and reporting of internal auditing provincial departments, local government, public entities and constitutional institutions.
Saica has previously explained that the slow pace of acting against its members accused of wrongdoing is due to the process followed which allows accountants to have legal counsel and make representations.
Saica is a voluntary organisation and the worst sanction is de-registration and/or a R500 000 fine per charge. Nomvalo who begins his term at Saica on Friday said he looked forward to the challenge and “will ensure that trust in the chartered accountancy profession is restored”.
SITA controversy
He was also CEO at the State Information technology Agency (SITA) for two years, resigning in March 2015 and his tenure there was not without controversy. The North Gauteng High Court found in 2018 that a multimillion-rand deal involving an "extremely sensitive" investigation conducted by a private security provider headed by former Gauteng police commissioner Mzwandile Petros for the SITA was invalid.
Nomvalo who was CEO at the time entered into a written agreement with the iFirm, represented by Petros in May 2014. News24 reported that the North Gauteng High Court has also found that SITA's actions, in entering into the agreement in the first place before trying to cancel it, were "deplorable".
