IDT’s new boss inherits R6bn pipeline and an old problem
PRETORIA — Alford Sifiso Nsibande takes over permanently as chief executive of the Independent Development Trust (IDT) on Wednesday after overseeing a period in which the state infrastructure agency says its confirmed order book grew from R2 billion to R6 billion and its cash position tripled.
Nsibande’s appointment, approved by Cabinet on 23 September, comes at a significant point for an entity responsible for delivering schools, clinics, community facilities and other public infrastructure across South Africa. He had been acting CEO since November 2025 and now inherits the task of turning recent financial and operational improvements into a sustained recovery.
The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure said the IDT completed 279 social infrastructure facilities during the 2025/26 financial year, exceeding its target of 244. The department credited Nsibande and the IDT Board of Trustees with overseeing improvements in the organisation while he served in the acting position.
The figures are significant because the IDT has spent recent years dealing with governance concerns, financial pressure and questions over its ability to deliver major public projects. Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson previously described the entity as having suffered instability, corruption concerns, loss of confidence and poor performance.
The leadership change follows the resignation of former CEO Tebogo Malaka, who had been suspended in August 2025 following an independent PwC investigation into the R836 million Pressure Swing Adsorption oxygen plant project. Macpherson said in January that Malaka’s resignation did not bring an end to criminal investigations arising from the matter.
The IDT has also faced wider historical procurement problems. In 2024, the Special Tribunal set aside two contracts worth about R1.66 billion that the IDT had awarded to five companies for Correctional Services projects, after a Special Investigating Unit investigation found procurement requirements had not been followed.
That history raises the stakes for Nsibande. The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Works and Infrastructure said the incoming CEO must strengthen governance, improve project delivery, address operational inefficiencies, rebuild stakeholder confidence and improve the IDT’s financial sustainability.
IDT board chairperson Zimbini Hill said Nsibande’s performance while acting CEO and his previous record at the Construction Industry Development Board, particularly its clean audit record, gave the board confidence in the direction of the organisation. The CIDB currently reports that it achieved another clean audit for the 2025/26 financial year.
The IDT’s recovery matters beyond its balance sheet. As a government infrastructure implementing agency, its performance can directly affect the delivery of schools, healthcare facilities, government service points and community infrastructure, particularly in underserved and rural areas. Parliament said the organisation remains an important instrument for social infrastructure despite the challenges it has faced.
Nsibande therefore begins his permanent tenure with a larger pipeline of work and improved financial indicators, but also with the burden of demonstrating that the apparent turnaround can survive beyond an acting leadership period. Parliament has made clear that the next phase will be judged not only by the size of the IDT’s order book, but by governance, financial sustainability and infrastructure delivered to communities.
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