Cape Town – Newly appointed Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke on Friday described her appointment, which becomes effective in December, as a privilege and the honour of a lifetime to help in the development of her country.
“I would like to thank the president and our Parliament for bestowing on me this great honour and the privilege of continuing to play a meaningful role to help strengthen our country’s democracy and its governance systems.
"I certainly do not take lightly the confidence that they, on behalf of South Africans, have shown in me to lead our national audit office to even greater heights of independence, fairness and delivering on our constitutional mandate without fear or favour,” Maluleke said.
She made the statement hours after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced her appointment to the non-renewable seven-year top auditing position.
Maluleke is succeeding late auditor-general Kimi Makwetu, who died last week before her seven-year term ended on November 30.
She was appointed after a multi-party ad hoc committee unanimously recommended her to the National Assembly, which in turn made its own recommendation to Ramaphosa.
Maluleke said she humbly accepted the assignment to receive the baton from Makwetu who she said laid strong foundations at the institution.
"I take this baton with purpose, and will continue to work closely with all those who have a keen interest in improving governance systems in our collective drive towards wholesale clean administration, especially in the public sector,” she said.
Maluleke, who has been with the Auditor-General office for eight years first as national leader responsible for the direction of all audit work and then as deputy AG, is the first woman to take up the top job.
She boasts a wealth of experience in both the public and private sectors.
The Soshanguve-born Maluleke is a chartered accountant who graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1996 and a postgraduate diploma in accountancy in 1997. She completed her articles with auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Political Bureau