Masechaba Sesing CA(SA) was recently appointed Head Of Department at the Free State Provincial Treasury and is intent on making a significant contribution both locally and internationally in the public sector space. She wishes to see the Free State Provincial Treasury positively influencing the conduct of all public servants to manage the financials affairs of government with the necessary care and prudence.
Masechaba Sesing is a woman of faith who is a wife and mother of two beautiful children. She’s a positive, a hard-working person who is resilient, yet very warm and people centric.
‘I was raised by a single mom who was assisted by many people from different cultural, educational and religious backgrounds, and this has enabled me to work-well with people from different cultural background and better understand their behaviour and actions given different circumstance. The above was further enhanced by my participation as the exchange student in the Netherlands through my high school Tsoseletso here in Bloemfontein and Interculture South Africa,’ says Masechaba.
A great deal of her career life was spent at the Attorney-General of South Africa (AGSA) where she audited a wealth of local and international public sector institutions. In the junior years of her career, she audited the United Nations when AGSA was still a leading member state of its board of auditors.
At the end of November 2018, she left AGSA and joined the Free State Provincial Treasury as Provincial Accountant-General (PAG). She was recently appointed Head of Department responsible for Financial Governance, Risk and Internal Audit for the entire province.
Though she has only just recently joined the province, the impact of her contributions has seen an improvement in the 2019 financial year audit outcomes. She also enjoy her role as the PAG and delighted about her contributions to the PAG forum.
She tells us more about her goals and dreams.
My long-term and biggest goal is to see the Free State Provincial Treasury being the talent management pipeline for the entire government in the Free State (both municipalities and departments). This department has a great work ethic and good morals and ethical values, and if replicated everywhere in the province, we can build the Free State we all want to see and have. I would like to see Free State Provincial Treasury positively influencing the conduct of all public servants to manage the financials affairs of this government with the necessary care and prudence they deserve. I would also like to see large volumes of all unwanted expenditures reducing and ultimately being eliminated. During my tenure it is my goal for the Free State Province to be seen as a model province that appreciates and practises good governance, accountability and oversight. Free State Province is one of the provinces that struggle to attract investors. With good governance, accountability and effective oversight, investors’ confidence is bound to go up because there will be quality service delivery, crime rates will be low, and revenue will be maximised.
Over the years I have been able to maintain and manoeuvre around complex relationships. I do not shy away from giving any type of feedback either to my internal and external stakeholders. I believe that that key to long, fruitful and lasting relationships does not depend on withholding from each other but rather how that feedback is given.
What makes life meaningful for me is to see lives of ordinary citizens of our beautiful country being positively impacted by my actions. I love to see justice, fairness, equitability and transparency prevail. I don’t easily get discouraged. As a firm believer, I always find something that speaks and imparts strength and courage during the trying times which all of us get our fair chance to go through. I always believe that given great effort from me and other good South Africans out there things will get better.
The SAICA motto that demands each CA(SA) to influence and lead has stuck in my mind since the beginning of my career. Wherever I am, whether at church, work or society gatherings and regardless of the level of the position I hold, I go forward with one mind: to influence and to lead, either from the top or even (most of the time) the bottom. I am also grateful for the AGSA CTA bursary scheme of which I am a beneficiary. I am particularly grateful to all the Accountant-Generals: Mr S Fakey, Mr T Nombembe, the late Mr K Makwetu and the current AG, Ms T Maluleke, under whose leadership I served at AGSA in various roles from trainee auditor to senior manager: planning.
I cannot define ethics better than John Maxwell. ‘It is doing the right thing even when no one is watching.’ To be ethical is something more than the quest for possessions and material things. Our society has escalated the value of material possessions much higher than good morals and ethical conduct. We are living in times where financial crises exists almost everywhere. This has been exacerbated by COVID-19. Our members must be taught from the junior years of their career that if they need to violate their conscience in other to have or keep something, they better lose it: the sooner the better.
I am very jealous of my time. I make every moment I spend at work and at home count. If under pressure (which is what is normally the case) I prefer working in the early hours of the day (from 03h00 to 05h00) and then start work as early as 07h00. This enables me to have afternoons and weekends to myself and my family. Training more and more people and responsible delegation of manageable tasks also goes a great deal in earning me some of the time I so much need.
A significant challenge I faced in my career was managing pushbacks from the auditees at the time that I was at AGSA. It was so severe that AG Makwetu had to report for the first time on the matter. What assisted me was the support I received from the office by way of training and coaching. It made me to be strong on the inside and not to easily lose focus. It further enabled me to provide hard and negative feedback in a very constructive manner to my clients. This made me, as the engagement manager, to oversee clients that were growing and improving. I had to find things that resonate with their goals and link them to their audit outcomes, and further provide practical and actionable recommendations that translated into improved audit outcomes. I could not have achieved the above without a deeper understanding of their environment. This again talks to the organisation’s motto that demands of us to influence and lead! x
My faith in God is the most integral part of my being. It did not only start when I got married to my husband, who is a pastor: I started preaching the word of God from a very young age and have always been a committed Christian. This jells well with the ethical posture I need to have and maintain in my career as well as the organisation.
