By Nobuhle L Ngema
In this 2025 State of the Nation Address ( SONA), President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke about building a state with leaders who are prepared to serve people with complete dedication, and public servants who are ethical, skilled and qualified. However, according to Parmi Natasan, CEO of Institute of Directors in South Africa (IoDSA), this just remains another unfulfilled promise. She says, “This track record of empty promises makes us feel like we will just hear the same again at next year’s SONA without seeing any change.”
As much as there are good intentions to restore a good governance and professionalise the public sector, the President has now promised the same thing in many successive years. “To achieve these objectives,” Ramaphosa said, “we are strengthening the role of the Public Service Commission in the appointment of the key people who direct the affairs of our state such as Directors-General, Deputy Directors-General, Chief Executive Officers of SOEs and
board members and other senior positions.”
However, this approach is unlikely to bring the desired improvements in leadership and in governance, because the Ministers will still have the power to make board appointments, which historically has seemed to be according to political lines and patronage. To ensure that SOE board members are indeed “ethical, skilled and properly qualified”, the IoDSA strongly recommends thorough due diligence in the appointment process, in line with the principles of King IV. “King IV advocates for a competency-based approach to board composition, ensuring that directors collectively have the knowledge, skills, experience, and personal qualities necessary for effective governance and oversight,” says Natesan. ”
Furthermore, the IoDSA’s formal Chartered Director and Certified Director designations provide a framework for directors to acquire and demonstrate the specialist skills, experience and integrity needed to discharge their duties with mastery, in line with its Director Competency Framework.” The IoDSA has, over the years, advocated for improvements to the nomination process, as well as the professionalization of board members in the public sector in general.
