The National Treasury does not sign contracts directly with the consultants.
The National Treasury has spent hundreds of millions of rands on consultants for specialised projects over the past two years.
This was revealed in a written parliamentary reply from Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.
Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) MP Wouter Wessels requested details on whether the National Treasury had appointed any consultants in the last two years, including the nature of their work and the duration of their contracts.
National Treasury’s spend on consultants
Godongwana detailed an extensive list of service providers and revealed that R350 million (R350 902 028.62) was paid to at least 30 consultancy firms between April 2023 and June this year.
From April to June 2025 alone, contracts worth more than R20 million were signed.
These included a R6.3 million three-year deal with Ston Infrastructure Services to support provincial treasuries in infrastructure delivery, R4.6 million to Nexor 312 for local government infrastructure management, and R3 million to Thovu Construction Group for architectural space planning services.
Among the biggest beneficiaries was OBT Advisory, awarded a R161.9 million, five-year contract in March 2024 to support and maintain the Treasury’s back-office system for its asset and liability management division.
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Tipp Focus Holding secured a R96.3 million contract to enhance and maintain the central supplier database for the office of the chief procurement officer over the same period.
Other multimillion-rand consultancy contracts went to firms such as Akhile Management and Consulting, Mntambo Financial Consulting, Luta Management Services, Stangra Investment, S and G Business Consulting, and Propellius.
These companies were primarily engaged to review, amend, and prepare Financial Recovery Plans for financially distressed municipalities across the country.
The affected municipalities included Mangaung, Madibeng, Sekhukhune, Emfuleni, Thabazimbi, Modimolle, Govan Mbeki, Thaba Chweu, Musina, and Phalaborwa.
Individual contracts for the work generally fell in the range of R1 million to R2.7 million each.
More contracts
The South African arm of the international advisory firm Rothschild and Co was paid R2.5 million in 2023 for debt structuring and capital markets advice during Eskom’s debt relief process.
Other notable projects included a R3 million contract awarded to PTP Integrated to source a service provider from the Government Employees Pension Fund and Public Investment Corporation panel for professional services on software-related projects within Treasury’s Information and Communication Technology unit over a 12-month period.
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Former National Treasury deputy director-general and current adviser, Ismail Momoniat, was also contracted twice – first in 2024 for R1.38 million and again in 2025 for a smaller R10,563.57 engagement – to lead South Africa’s efforts to exit the Financial Action Task Force greylist and support related anti-corruption initiatives.
Several more contracts were awarded to enhance municipal supply chain management compliance, develop women empowerment programmes, and support local government infrastructure delivery oversight.
National Treasury doesn’t sign contracts directly with consultants
Responding to concerns about whether consultants were filling in for vacancies, Godongwana stated that all appointments were for “specific and time-bound projects” and not due to staffing shortages.
“No consultants are appointed as a result of vacancies. National Treasury follows the public service regulations to fill positions,” he said.
The minister added that the National Treasury signs the service level agreements with the company, not directly with the consultants.
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