PEOPLE
AN ACCOUNTANT
WITH A BIG SOUL Education, Training and Development Practices SETA CFO Nonhlanhla Mona-Dick is dedicated to working in the public sector, and takes her inspiration in hope and empathy from Maya Angelou. By Victoria Williams
C
FO of the Education, Training and Development Practices (ETDP) SETA , Nonhlanhla Mona-Dick is at the forefront of closing the critical skills gap in South Africa. She oversees the finance function of an organisation that issues 11,000 bursaries each year. “As a CFO of a public entity, I play a role in protecting the entity’s reputation by ensuring that we are delivering on our mandate and abide by the laws and regulations set out for public entities. I’m also giving back to my country working for an organisation in the training and education space,” says Nonhlanhla. With 141 employees, the ETDP SETA has offices in each province, and Nonhlanhla leads a team of 20 people across finance and supply chain. She says that she has experienced the most professional growth from working in the public sector. Her other public sector experience includes working in the office of the Public Protector, the Auditor-General of South Africa and at the Central Energy Fund (CEF), a state-owned diversified energy company reporting to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy. She also spent several years in auditing but doesn’t regret the move into a finance leadership position. “A CFO is a powerful person within an organisation. They have a bird’s-eye view of what is going on, including per-
“A CFO is a powerful person within an organisation. They have a bird’s-eye view of what is going on, including perspectives into operations, governance and compliance.” 22
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spectives into operations, governance and compliance. They’re no longer known as simply the numbers people,” says Nonhlanhla. Nonhlanhla’s first CFO role was an acting position at the CEF. She had just turned 29. The role turned out to be a 14-month stint before a permanent CFO was appointed. “Although I didn’t have the experience, I told myself I could do it. I am incredibly grateful to the leadership who showed an interest in me during my time with the group. I have really benefited from mentorship,” she comments.
The Covid-19 impact The ETDP SETA’s revenue is R1.1 billion in a good year. She learnt of a new risk to the organisation in April when the President announced that employers would be given a four-month payment holiday for skills development levy contributions. Nonhlanhla describes this pronouncement as a ‘huge setback’, as skills development levies account for more than 50 percent of revenue for any given financial year. “We are a sector that is directly impacted by this and we were not consulted prior to this announcement. We will struggle to fully deploy our mandate as our resources will be stretched quite extensively for the foreseeable future,” she comments. The organisation’s core activities are rolling out training and development programmes aimed at the education, training and development (ETD) sector. These tend to be large, in-person gatherings of between 50 to 100 people. A hard lockdown followed by strict social distancing protocols has meant that this training is impossible. Then, the shifted university and school timetables have cut into the times when the EDTP SETA typically conducts training. For Nonhlanhla, the worst part of the Covid-19 financial distress was the impact on the organisation's training
