The Director-General of National Treasury, Lungisa Fuzile, was key to the fight against “state capture” by National Treasury.
His imminent departure comes as no surprise; he has been on President Jacob Zuma’s “hit list” for a long time.
We can only hope:
- that his departure does not open the “flood gates” and that other senior officials do not begin to leave National Treasury; and
- that he is replaced by an internal candidate with experience, not an external candidate marked with the Guptas’ “stamp of approval”.
The appointment of the Director-General, not to mention the Chief Procurement Officer, will now be a “litmus test” of the institutional independence of National Treasury.
In the end, the fact is Lungisa Fuzile has served his country well and his imminent departure is a blow to National Treasury.