Outa says this is negative for governance at the roads agency.
The term of the board of the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) – which is three years – has been extended again. The current board was appointed in August 2018.
Sanral chair Themba Mhambi and some board members have now held their positions for eight years.
The current board’s term was extended by former transport minister Fikile Mbalula in August 2021, with a statement claiming the Department of Transport was in the process of recruiting a new board and that this “will be concluded soon”.
However, there was no new board in 2021 or 2022.
Sanral chair Themba Mhambi said in its 2022/23 annual report the board was requested by Mbalula to continue in a caretaker role until a new board was appointed “in January 2023”.
Yet there was still no new board in 2023.
A Sens announcement on 10 January 2023 stated that Mbalula had confirmed the appointment – and reappointment – of Sanral board members, who would serve for a three-year term effective 9 January 2023.
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Fast forward to January 2026 …
A Sanral Sens announcement on 8 January 2026 states that Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy has extended the current board term with effect from 9 January “until the earlier of a period not exceeding three months or the announcement of a new board”.
Creecy said on Thursday in response to a Moneyweb request for an update on the status of the appointment of a new board that “it has been advertised” and there is a selection process underway.
“You have to understand it has to go through a cabinet process,” she said.
“The cabinet meetings are only starting in February.”
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Board ‘overstaying its welcome’
Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) CEO Wayne Duvenage on Friday was highly critical of the term of office of the Sanral board being extended yet again.
“Quite frankly [Sanral chair] Mhambi and his team have overstayed their welcome. They have been there for far longer than they should have.
“This is a reflection of poor governance, poor oversight, and poor planning on behalf of government. That sits quite squarely at Barbara Creecy’s doorstep,” he said.
Duvenage said even more worrying is that Outa knows there are governance concerns at Sanral and related issues that have been raised – such as board overreach, the board being involved in tenders, the cancellation of tenders and “the list goes on”.
He said the extension of the term of the current board is negative for governance, adding that there are a lot of governance questions related to Sanral, and Outa has seen people suspended and reinstated and the termination of the contracts with people like former Sanral chief financial officer Inge Mulder.
“There are a lot of questions about what happened there [to Mulder],” he said.
Sanral said Mulder, who had been with Sanral for over 21 years, mutually agreed with the company to terminate the contract.
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Duvenage said there is “too much smoke” when it comes to Sanral and governance.
“This board is long overdue for replacement and the fact that we now sit in a situation where its term has to be extended for three months, we have to ask ourselves why,” he said.
Duvenage said Outa has noted extensions of the terms of office of officials and boards at many government departments and entities, including the Department of Higher Education and Training.
“Government is remiss and extremely lazy and not planning ahead. They know these boards need to be replaced years in advance,” he said.
“Creecy should have been going through the process of nominations and selection for a new board, starting this process probably in June last year, six months ahead of time, and then they don’t do a rushed process and have to extend it, which is wrong,” he said.
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Board overreach
Duvenage’s reference to board overreach and the Sanral board being involved in tenders relates partly to Sanral’s announcement on 31 July 2024 that two vacancies on its board had resulted in the board restructuring its subcommittees to ensure continued effective governance and operational control.
Sanral said at the time the board faced challenges in maintaining the required composition of key subcommittees because of the vacancies.
It said its Audit and Risk Committee and Contracts Committee could therefore not meet their regulatory and operational requirements – and that “due to regulatory constraints” that prevent members of the former committe from serving on the latter, the latter would be suspended and matters usually handled by it “will be directed to the full board until further notice”.
Sanral said its Assets and Liabilities Committee would be suspended too, “with its responsibilities also being handled by the board temporarily”.
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Inquiry
Duvenage earlier this month called on Creecy to launch an independent forensic investigation into tender awards by Sanral or for parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) to conduct an inquiry into the roads agency.
This followed Sanral rejecting suggestions that the findings of its investigation into the R1.57 billion Masekwaspoort tender award warranted a probe into all the tenders it has awarded to China State Construction and Engineering Corporation (CSCEC).
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.