Recent interventions by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and the National Treasury have helped shed light on issues that had hitherto been allowed to fester in dark corners.

The most high-profile intervention has undoubtedly been the one at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), where recent governance shortcomings, investment failures and unauthorised restructuring were risking the stability of an institution responsible for managing public-sector pension and social funds. It is estimated that the PIC has assets under management of R3.6-trillion, making good governance beyond essential and public scrutiny inevitable.

Godongwana’s demand in late July that those board members who had not yet stepped down, including his deputy, David Masondo, who was chair of the board, came after the board pursued organisational changes that had not been sanctioned by the shareholder, and also followed the suspension of CEO Patrick Dlamini.

The Minister’s move to call the general meeting which precipitated the resignations ahead of any votes on the removal of the directors was both unprecedented and effective, and came following reports of ongoing instability and potential corruption at the PIC. While destabilising in the short term, it helped bring important issues into the public domain and place the PIC’s governance under a magnifying glass.

The Finance Minister has made three more similarly bold interventions of late that are worth noting.

The first was his leaked April 23 letter to Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero, questioning an unfunded wage settlement, and highlighting that the city’s cash and cash equivalents were insufficient to repay creditors that were owed R25.2-billion.

This was followed by the equally unprecedented decision to withhold the payment of the July instalment of the local government equitable share to 69 municipalities, including Johannesburg, owing to ongoing problems of unfunded budgets, the nonpayment of Eskom and water boards, ongoing unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, and a lack of consequence management.

These interventions could not be implemented to their fullest extent, partly over questions of legality, but mainly over concerns that the municipalities could collapse in the run-up to the November 4 local government elections.

Nevertheless, they have brought a new level of transparency to the crucial issue of municipal finance mismanagement, as well as the stress placed on these municipalities by the disgraceful nonpayment by national government departments and provinces for their municipal services. Godongwana has indicated that these spheres of government could equally face a withholding of equitable share payments in September unless they settle their debts.

Lastly, the Minister’s refusal to concur with an R11-million, two-year salary package for Hlengani Mathebula’s stint as administrator of the failing National Student Financial Aid Scheme is also worthy of a mention.

Godongwana told News24 that the proposed remuneration should be reconsidered and aligned to that of previous administrators, which is understood to be a still-hefty R2.5-million yearly.

Here again, the signal is probably as important as the outcome. And what is that signal? The days of profligacy across all three spheres of government and at State entities must end.