Following discussions and consultation with the Board of Infraco, the Minister of Public Enterprises, Mr Malusi Gigaba has seconded Dr Andrew Shaw as interim CEO for Broadband Infraco. This follows the resignation of Mr Dave Smith as CEO of the state-owned enterprise. Dr Shaw’s secondment will allow sufficient time for the Board to engage in a process to recruit a new CEO.
The Minister has noted the breaches mentioned in the internal audit report and takes a dim view of the lack of systems and apparent lapse in leadership by the Board and management in critical moments.
Dr Shaw is tasked with, among other things, ensuring that Broadband Infraco complies with the remedial actions proposed in its recent internal audit report, and supervising and overseeing disciplinary actions against all mentioned in the report. He will supervise the forensic investigation into the affairs of the company, which has already been commissioned by the Board, and undertake commercial and legal due diligence on all major financial contracts conducted during the past two years, and to inform the Shareholder and the Board accordingly.
The Minister has specifically requested the Director-General, Mr Tshediso Matona, together with the DDGs for Energy and Broadband as well as legal and governance, to oversee the process internally, and report to him regularly on progress.
In addition, the department will be submitting its recommendations to Cabinet for the filling of the vacant positions to strengthen the Board of Broadband Infraco, and an announcement will be made in due course.
A brief profile of Dr Andrew Shaw:
Dr Shaw has a BSc and MSc (Engineering) from the University of the Witwatersrand and a PhD in Transport Economics from the University of Leeds. He recently completed an MBA with a specialisation in finance.
He was Acting Director-General of the Department of Public Enterprises from March 2010 to January 2011. His normal function at the Department is Deputy Director-General: Transport, is leading a team with responsibility for shareholder oversight on behalf of Government of Transnet, SAA and South African Express (SAX).
Prior to this he was Lead Transport Specialist at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and his role was to coordinate the technical and investment appraisal of infrastructure projects in transport and to work at a senior level to enhance policy development in the sector.
He has worked extensively on infrastructure, policy and regulatory projects in South Africa, but also has experience working on projects in SADC, the UK, Russia, Greece and South East Asia
His experience covers business planning, strategy and policy analysis, financial modelling and oversight, institutional restructuring, investment appraisal, public transport and freight transport operational analysis as well as transport planning and modelling. Further, Dr. Shaw is familiar with the legislative and regulatory environment within which SOE operate and is well conversant with corporate governance issues.
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Ayanda Shezi
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Richard Mantu
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