The appointment of National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) acting CEO Nondumiso Madlala has come under intense parliamentary scrutiny, with the Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture moving to refer the matter to the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA).
The controversy centres on Madlala’s appointment as acting CEO while she was also a member of the NFVF Council.
Madlala is a Chartered Accountant and a member of SAICA.
The NFVF’s own website says she has 17 years’ experience and previously served as the foundation’s acting CFO between August 2021 and August 2022, where she assisted with addressing an audit qualification and rebuilding internal controls and processes.
Her appointment as acting CEO was announced in July after the suspension of acting CEO Onke Dumeko.
The NFVF subsequently stated that Madlala had stepped down from her council duties and oversight committees to ensure governance integrity during the interim period.
But that explanation did not satisfy MPs.
“It’s a conflict, direct conflict of interest,”
During the committee’s interrogation of the appointment, Madlala was asked to explain her involvement in the process that ultimately resulted in her being appointed to the acting CEO position.
The committee raised concerns about the fact that she had been a council member involved in oversight of the executive management of the organisation before moving into the executive position herself.
The MPs further questioned whether the governance processes surrounding her appointment were sufficiently independent and whether a council member could properly participate in decisions concerning the executive position before subsequently occupying that position.
The issue was significant because Madlala had previously served as acting CEO/CFO of the NFVF and was familiar with the organisation’s internal workings.
The committee also questioned the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture over the legal basis for appointing a council member to the acting CEO position.
When asked whether the NFVF Act permitted the appointment, the department’s representative, Sibusiso Tsanyane gave a blunt answer:
“In terms of the NFVF Act, it doesn’t,” he said.
The PFMA was also raised during the discussion, with the department indicating that it did not provide a basis for the appointment of a council member as CEO.
That exchange turned the issue from a question of governance optics into a potentially more serious question about the legal basis for the appointment itself.
Madlala defended the decision, explaining that she had resigned fully from her council responsibilities when she took up the acting CEO position.
She also pointed to the exceptional circumstances confronting the NFVF and her own qualifications and previous experience with the organisation.
The argument was essentially that the foundation was facing a leadership crisis and required someone with institutional knowledge and the ability to step into the position immediately.
The NFVF’s own published profile supports the extent of Madlala’s professional background.
It describes her as a CA(SA) and SAICA member who previously worked at KPMG, Absa, Standard Bank and the Auditor-General of South Africa before becoming Group CFO at the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency.
It also records her previous stint as NFVF acting CFO from August 2021 to August 2022.
But the committee’s concern was that qualifications alone could not resolve a governance question.
The Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, told MPs that he had warned the NFVF Council against appointing a serving council member to an executive position.
The committee therefore sought clarity on what advice had been given to the council, whether that advice was followed and who ultimately took responsibility for the appointment.
The matter ultimately moved beyond parliamentary questioning.
The Committee proposed that she be reported to the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), with the Portfolio Committee’s records, including the relevant minutes and video recording of the proceedings.
A SAICA referral would allow the professional body to consider whether the circumstances raised before Parliament warrant further investigation under the professional obligations applicable to its members.
The controversy also highlights a broader governance problem at the NFVF.
Madlala is currently listed by the NFVF as acting CEO, while the organisation’s council page also identifies her as a council member.
The NFVF has previously defended the arrangement by stating that she stepped down from council duties and oversight committees once she assumed the acting CEO position.
But MPs’ concern goes to the period before that resignation, particularly what role she played in discussions and decisions surrounding the appointment.
The controversy comes against the backdrop of considerable instability at the NFVF.
Madlala became the latest acting CEO following the suspension of Onke Dumeko, with the leadership changes adding to a succession of acting and interim executives at the foundation.
The organisation has simultaneously been under pressure over the administration of its funding programmes, including the delayed PESP6 process.
In its recent PESP6 announcement, the NFVF said it had approved R150 million for 268 projects and that the programme had attracted 1,787 applications.
Madlala, in her capacity as acting CEO, said the NFVF remained committed to ensuring public funding was administered responsibly and transparently.
That commitment now sits alongside questions from Parliament about the governance of the person entrusted with leading the organisation.
For an institution responsible for administering public funding to South Africa’s film and audiovisual sector, the central question is now whether its leadership transition complied not only with the principles of good governance, but with the law.
And with SAICA potentially being asked to examine the conduct of one of its members, the controversy surrounding the NFVF’s latest acting CEO is unlikely to end with the parliamentary hearing.
