Edition February 2025

If government is to effectively continue providing services, the future of public sector financial management will have to be shaped by digital transformation, data-driven decision-making, and a growing emphasis on sustainability.

This is the view of Innocent Gumbochuma, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). An entity of the Department of Higher Education and Training, SAQA is the oversight body of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and the custodian of its values and quality character.

In November 2024, Gumbochuma won the Public Sector CFO of the Year Award at the 2024 CFO Awards in Johannesburg. His journey in the public sector started in 2009 at Umalusi, where he worked as the Assis- tant Finance Manager. He rose through the ranks until he left the quality assurance institution in 2013 to join the then newly formed Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO), where he worked as the Director of supply chain. In 2018, he was promoted to CFO. He held the position until November 2022 when he took up his current role at SAQA.

“In the nine years that I was at the QTCO, I am proud to say that I had eight clean audits,” he said.

Confident in his capabilities, Gumbochuma was up for a new challenge. A mammoth test in the form a tattered and limping SAQA came knocking. At the time, the organisation had not had a CFO for over a year and had retrenched about 100 employees as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rising to the occasion

“It is quite unheard of in the public sector but it had to happen...For lack of a better word, it was a mess when I joined.

There was no stability, which was a risky thing for me, coming from a place of comfort, but I needed a new challenge,” he recalled.

He recalled that when he first arrived at the beleaguered organisation, his primary focus was to “clean up” the challenges created by the absence of a CFO.

“I joined in November and by financial year-end (31 March), the organisation almost got qualified to returning back to a clean audit,” he said.

He attributes the success to the dedication of his team at the qualifications authority.

“I was joking with my team saying that in my career, I had never done so many corrective journals in six months. Here I did over 3 000 journals just to correct financials and make sure that everything is proper,” he added.

The achievement was followed by a “much better” clean audit.

Digital transformation

Since his arrival, the organisation has implemented key financial strategies and innovations to strengthen its operations.

These include digital transformation, resource optimisation and revenue diversification.

The qualification authority has invested in automation and data warehousing to improve service delivery and data management. Through resource optimisation, the authority has been able to identify areas to streamline costs while maintaining service quality. Revenue diversification has led the agency to explore and implement sustainable revenue streams beyond traditional funding models.

“These efforts have enhanced both our operational efficiency and financial sustainability,” said the CFO.

Following the retrenchments, SAQA employees were expected to take on additional responsibilities and the executive team was no exception. Today, its executive team consists of the Chief Executive Officer, the CFO and the Chief Operations Officer. Gumbochuma also doubles as the Chief Information Officer.

“We are doing a serious digital transformation journey because it makes sense for us as a now lean organisation to take on more work. You will not believe that I am in charge of seven departments. That is what it is under the circumstances. I am in charge of information and communications technology, Human Resources, legal, finance and the Project Management Office,” he said.

The digital transformation is expected to streamline qualification accreditation and evaluation processes.

“For example, if you study abroad, we have to give you a South African equivalent of your qualification. We get a lot of those. We can only do that through digitisation. One of the key projects that we are doing is automation, which we have just put into production in December (2024),” he explained.

One-stop-shop

SAQA, he said, has set its sights on building a one-stop shop qualification verification process. This will allow employers to verify credentials of prospective employees through a single system. Currently, the process is fragmented, requiring criminal records checks with the South African Police Service, identity verifications with the Department of Home Affairs, and a qualifications authentication with SAQA.

“We are building systems that will link Home Affairs and police so that when you verify your education, we do everything at once. One of the most exciting things that I want to achieve – and we have already started – is to utilise blockchain technology as part of a revenue generating strategy,” said Gumbochuma.

Despite all the successes, he concedes that his job is not the easiest. He explained that the demands of his role often prevent him from sleeping, as he constantly strives to balance two key priorities: optimising available resources and securing additional funding for the organisation. He noted that the scars of retrenchments still linger among the employees who survived, and his goal is to provide them with the assurance that such an event will never happen again.

“How do you do that? We are one of the most underfunded organisations but we are a very critical organisation in the education landscape.”

Addressing budget constraints

He highlighted that only 60% of SAQA’s budget is funded by the fiscus, with the organisation having to raise the rest on its own. To bolster its fundraising efforts, the authority piloted a proof-of-concept with a major financial institution in 2023. The concept aimed to streamline the verification of qualifications for loan applicants.

“The financial institution wants to better vet applicants because some provide incorrect information. They want us to verify those credit applicants,” he said.

The authority managed to verify 50 000 records for the institution and was able to get an additional R2 million.

“It was a classic case of getting additional revenue. The financial institution promised they would likely give us 400 000 applicants to vet per year,” he said.

“That’s just one financial institution, he said, adding that he plans to approach all institutions that follow the same process to ensure that SAQA’s revenue generating efforts are stabilised.

He said the challenge was balancing operational needs with long-term sustainability goals, especially with the budgetary constraints. This, he said, requires innovative thinking to optimise resources without compromising service delivery.

He pointed to the entity's resource optimisation efforts, which resulted in savings of approximately R5 million over three years on Microsoft license fees, which were being provided by third party resellers.

“… one of the things that I am good at is negotiating. We managed to get Microsoft on board,” he said.

In late 2024, the organisation moved to a smaller office space after it sold its six-storey building in Hatfield, Pretoria.

“It was an old building and the maintenance was just too much. We got all the necessary approvals to sell and we sold it. In the meantime, before we buy another building, we will be renting for the next three years,” said Gumbochuma.

Collective achievements

While more work lies ahead for the organisation, he said his CFO Award was testament to the sacrifices, long hours and passion he poured into his career over the years.

“Professionally, it is validation that strategic leadership, innovation and a focus on financial sustainability can make a tangible impact, particularly in the public sector where account- ability and service delivery are critical,” he said.

“This award underscores SAQA’s commitment to innovation, transformation, efficiency and service delivery. It reflects the collaborative effort across leadership, governance and operations to streamline processes, embrace digital transformation and enhance the quality of education through the NQF.

This recognition is a shared achievement that highlights SAQA’s positive trajectory.”