The Citizen reports that Open Secrets and the Unpaid Benefits Campaign was scheduled to square off against Finance Minister Tito Mboweni in the Pretoria High Court on Thursday over how the Financial Services Conduct Authority’s (FSCA’s) executives are appointed.

The financial sector watchdog was launched in April 2018. Last September, National Treasury finally began the process of appointing a commissioner and four deputies to head it. But, according to the non-profit organisation (NPO), that process was shrouded in secrecy. Open Secrets was unsuccessful in an initial bid to have the process halted temporarily and the Reserve Bank’s Unathi Kamlana has since been named as the new commissioner. But regardless, Open Secrets is now pressing ahead with a bid to have the regulations governing the appointment process declared unlawful. As they stand, the regulations only provide for public participation once a panel has shortlisted, interviewed and recommended to the minister its preferred candidates for the top spots. But Open Secrets says the entire process should be open to the public and, importantly, the media. Mboweni, for his part, contends that appointments to statutory or public institutions do not always have to follow a public process and that while the interviews for the top spots at the FSCA were indeed “private”, that did not render the process secret or unlawful.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bernadette Wicks at The Citizen

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