Cabinet has renewed the contract of CEDA (Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency) Chief Executive Thapelo Matsheka.
Dr. Matsheka’s contract expired in February this year but competing interests inside cabinet and at the Ministry of Finance locked on a standoff, with one side calling for his contract renewal and the other opposing the move.
Before Matsheka’s application for contract renewal could be considered, Minister of Finance Baledzi Gaolathe asked the Auditor General to do a thorough audit of CEDA operations.
This was after it was revealed that, among other things, CEDA staff owed the company close to P8 million in unpaid staff loans.
There were also allegations that Matsheka had overstepped his authority by lending some operations sums of money above his statutory limit without explicit authority from the Board.
But the CEDA Chairman, former Minister David Magang, stood by Matsheka and insisted that he be appointed.
This week a source in government confirmed that the Auditor General had since submitted his CEDA report to the minister.
The report raises a number of governance issues that have to be sorted at CEDA.
In a bid to avoid the replay of the PEEPA saga that turned out dirty after cabinet and the board pitched on different sides over who to appoint as CEO, Minister Gaolathe went ahead and recommended to cabinet to endorse Matsheka’s reappointment.
“Matsheka’s contract renewal is on the cards. Its true the Auditor General raised a number of questions over governance at CEDA. But that notwithstanding the minister has decided to go ahead and recommend renewal. He will get the job,” said a source in government.
