Saica house of cards shaken by whistle-blower findings

The guardian of professional accountants in South Africa turned against an insider who spoke up

- By Lindsey Schutters

The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica) was meant to be the gold standard of professional integrity in the accounting industry.

For decades, it held itself up as the custodian of ethics in a country scarred by corporate collapse and public sector looting.

But the ordeal of Saica's former executive director of legal and governance, Jaco Snyman, whose portfolio included the role of board secretary, tells a very different story. It is one of intimidation, institutional rot and a regulator that seems unable, or unwilling, to regulate itself.

The first alarm was raised in March 2024 about what Snyman described to Daily Maverick as a "calculated abuse" of member funds at Saica.

He had noticed a sudden spike in the number of board and committee meetings. Against a market standard of four meetings per year per committee (for a total of 28 meetings), Saica's board and committees had convened 52 times in 2023.

Each additional meeting translated into income for board members. They were paid more than R3,275 per hour, with committee chairs pocketing even more. "This whole thing just stinks to heaven," Snyman told colleagues in one of his recorded accounts.

When he formally raised the matter, the retaliation was swift. By 18 March, he was suspended without a charge sheet. His laptop was confiscated, his access was revoked and he was forbidden to contact colleagues. "They told me the charges were 'very serious'," Snyman recalls. "But when I asked what they were, they said they didn't know yet."

Retaliation dressed as governance

The silencing saga began on 25 March 2024 when Snyman, convinced that Saica aimed to silence him ahead of its annual general meeting, submitted a protected disclosure. Saica brought in law firm Bowmans to conduct what was billed as an "independent" investigation.