The PetroSA board has suspended its group CEO Nosizwe Nokwe Macamo and CFO Lindiwe Bakoro with immediate effect.

This followed the national oil company’s decision, last month, to request its top three executives to take gardening leave, owing to poor performance. However, the CEO and CFO had refused to take leave.

During their absence, Mapula Modipa would act as CEO and Webster Fanadzo as CFO.

Acting VP of upstream operations Andrew Dippenaar had accepted the board’s proposal to take leave, with Varsha Singh stepping into his position in the interim.

The board would now conduct an investigation into the financial performance of the company, which it expected would take two to three months to finalise.

Earlier this month, the Portfolio Committee on Energy suggested that PetroSA board members should lead by example and also resign.

The national oil company expected to announce a massive loss when it releases its financial statements at the end of July, owing to the dismal failure of Project Ikhwezi‚ which aimed to extend the life of Mossgas‚ its gas-to-synthetic fuel refinery.