Edition June 2026

In 2012, when Andisa Zinja was 27 –  half a decade into her fledgling chartered accountancy career (CA) – she reached an epoch. 

Fretting and uncertain, she decided to accept the offer of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at the Eastern Cape Socio-Economic Consultative Council (ECSECC), a promotion from her Finance Manager role. She remained in the position for eight years.

Draped in a chalk-white A-line dress and a black blazer accessorised with a gold necklace and a matching headwrap to lull the cold front enveloping Centurion in Tshwane, Zinja welcomes the Public Sector Manager (PSM) team for an interview. The meeting is at the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) offices, where she has been CFO since April 2025.

As South Africa marks Youth Month and commemorates 50 years since the 1976 student uprisings, Zinja embodies what is possible when the youth are offered opportunities. The bureaucrat believes that young people must actively pursue and embrace opportunities, even when they feel uncertain.

Give young people a chance

She also encourages leaders to create more opportunities for young people in leadership spaces.

“As leaders, we can learn more from the youth as they learn from us as well,” she said. “If we bring in more youth, especially in leadership spaces and leadership roles, then there might be a positive contribution that they can make”.

Originally from Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape, Zinja’s journey to becoming a public finance professional was not straightforward. As a young girl, she imagined a completely different future for herself.

“I wanted to become a therapist,” she explained. “I grew up during the times of the Bold and the Beautiful and Days Of Our Lives playing on TV [television]. In one of the shows, there was a character called Marlena, who was a therapist and was called ‘doc’ and I wanted to be a therapist.

“I wanted to work with people. I wanted to listen to people’s problems and try resolve those problems”.

However, her natural talent for accounting opened another path.

“At school, I was so good in accounting, but I did not know about the chartered accountant route. We only found out when we would have universities come to talk to students at school, and when you are in varsity then you would have your big firms coming in to say, ‘hey, there’s this career opportunity’”.

Career journey

Her professional journey began at PwC, where she served as an article clerk between 2007 and 2010. The experience laid the technical foundation for her future leadership roles in both auditing and financial management.

She later joined the Auditor-General of South Africa as an Assistant Audit Manager from 2010 to 2011.

In 2012, Zinja joined the ECSECC as Finance Manager before being promoted later that year to CFO.

Looking back, she believes accepting the offer was one of the defining moments of her career.

“Had I said no to that opportunity, I do not think I would be here,” she reflected.

“At that time, it was scary for me, because ‘ha! why are you saying you are offering me this opportunity? I am only 27. You are asking me to be a CFO’? With that fear, I said; ‘Yes’.”

That decision would ultimately shape the trajectory of her professional life and become a lesson she now shares with young professionals across South Africa.

Shining star

In November 2025, she pulled a major coup when she was named the 2025 Public Sector CFO of the Year. For Zinja, the accolade was also a celebration of excellence within South Africa’s public sector – a space she believes is too often viewed through a negative lens.

“The award was an affirmation and a validation for me that I am doing something right, especially in the public sector,” she said. “You know, there is always something negative in most cases, in the media or how people perceive the public sector. To be a female in the public sector receiving this accolade, for me, it means that there are good stories to tell within the public sector”.

As CFO of a state-owned entity responsible for financing and implementing bulk raw water infrastructure projects, Zinja occupies a strategically important financial leadership position. Her role directly supports the development of critical water infrastructure that underpins economic growth, industrial development and service delivery.

Managing with compassion 

In November 2020, she joined the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) as CFO during the organisation’s most tumultuous period.

“I moved to the CMS during a very volatile time. There was a lot of bad publicity in the news. There was a lot of change happening within the entity, there were quite a significant number of irregularities, there was the Special Investigating Unit  in the mix”.

“There were executives who were dismissed, disciplinaries; it was just volatile”.

The environment was marked by instability, mistrust and severe financial challenges. Employees were fearful, morale was low and the institution faced uncertainty.

“I had to learn to work more with people, to earn people’s trust as a leader,” she explained. “I had to learn that we are human first, before we are even employees”.

“If you then can relate to people on that level, you can earn their trust and their respect, and then you will be able to work with people. You will be able to pull the people together so you can achieve whatever outcome that you set yourself to achieve.”

Creating stability

One of the biggest challenges she encountered was the organisation’s financial position.

“When I came in, the CMS was both illiquid and insolvent, basically,” she recalled. “I remember working with the Finance Manager. I asked for the cash flows and the forecast, and you could see that the year end is March, and then you look at the numbers, and you are like, 'we will not be able to pay salaries in February because we do not have the money'".

“I [would] sit by myself, like, ‘Whoa! Why did I come here? I left my comfortable job there in the Eastern Cape, and I am coming here, and we will not have money in February to pay salaries’”.

Over the next four years, she helped stabilise the institution financially and improve governance processes.

“When I left, we were liquid, we were solvent – we were out of the ICU”. 

New challenge

Soon afterwards, Zinja joined TCTA.

Despite previously avoiding the infrastructure sector, she decided to embrace a new challenge.

“I have always said I would never go to an infrastructure sector.”

At the TCTA, Zinja quickly recognised the scale and significance of the organisation’s responsibilities.

“We need to borrow money from the capital market to fund these bulk water infrastructure projects,” she explained. 

She emphasised that financial discipline, governance and organisational credibility directly affect borrowing costs and ultimately impact ordinary South Africans.

“If you do not have your house in order, the cost of borrowing is higher, and then you have to pass that on to you and me, the normal citizens.”

For Zinja, modern CFOs must go beyond financial reporting and become strategic leaders who focus on impact and long-term value.

“As CFOs, we are moving to more of value and impact for the organisations, not just numbers,” she said. “The numbers tell a story.”

“We need to be more future-driven than just looking at history. History does help but then, if you are not more future-driven and thinking of impact and value, and also stakeholder confidence, then you are doing absolutely nothing.” ❖