Minister Dr Rob Davies has appointed Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) veteran Lionel October as his acting director-general after it was confirmed that Tshediso Matona would take up the position of director-general at the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) as from January 2011.

Matona, who was appointed by Minister Malusi Gigaba in December, takes over from Dr Andrew Shaw, who has been acting in the position as director-general since the departure of Portia Molefe in late 2009.

Hitherto, October had been the DTI’s counsellor of economic affairs in Brussels, Belgium, where he focused on trade relations with the European Union. However, prior to his international posting in 2007, October had led the DTI’s enterprise and industry development division.

DTI spokesperson Sidwell Medupe told Engineering News Online that October’s appointment as acting director-general would also commence in January and that the process to secure a permanent replacement for Matona would begin soon.

Medupe also emphasised October’s intimate knowledge of the DTI, which spanned nearly ten years. In fact, October joined the DTI in 2001 as chief director of the industrial participation programme secretariat, before being appointed deputy director-general of the EIDD in April 2003.

Gigaba’s decision to appoint Matona, meanwhile, was presented as an attempt to provide “leadership stability” at the DPE, which exercises shareholder oversight over key State-owned enterprises, such as Eskom, Transnet and Denel.

Matona, who is an economist and industrial policy expert, was appointed director-general of the DTI in July 2006. He was instrumental in shaping the country’s industrial policy framework and contributed to the formulation of New Growth Path policy framework, which was released late last year.

Prior to his appointment as director-general, Matona also focused primarily on trade matters, having been the DTI’s deputy director-general for international trade from 2002 to 2005.

His “transfer” to the DPE was approved by President Jacob Zuma and confirmed by the department in mid-December. His term is effective from January 2011 until June 2012.