ACCOLADE FOR CASIDRA’S 33RD UNQUALIFIED AUDIT FOR 2021/22
The Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, Dr Ivan Meyer, congratulated Casidra for achieving its 33rd unqualified audit in a row during the Company’s Annual General Meeting held in Paarl on 7 September 2022. “You continue to make the Western Cape Government proud by maintaining your good governance record. I must emphasise that no other single entity in the country has managed to achieve this milestone besides Casidra. Casidra continuously fulfilled its role in rural community development, and did so without placing its financial governance record at risk”, said Minister Meyer.
The Chairperson of the Board, Prof. Johann Kirsten, expressed his gratitude to the Shareholder, represented by Minister Ivan Meyer, and Dr Mogale Sebopetsa, Head of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, and his team for fostering a good working relationship with Casidra.
“We were motivated by the former CEO for steering a ship throughout the year with plenty of energy before he left Casidra. He gave the Company renewed direction and energy, and inspired the staff to tackle challenges in better ways. The results are tangible now and we encourage employees to embrace the future with determination”, said Kirsten.
Kirsten said that the Board focused on what Casidra should do in the Rural Development sector. “We worked hard on renewal and improving reporting, efficiency and strategy towards our role in the Province. Most importantly, we have put more focus on sustainable integrated development in the rural areas as key to achieving our goal of project management excellence in order to enable us to procure better, smarter and to be efficient on how we manage the resources” Kirsten alluded.
“I must compliment the new Board members for their guidance and immense commitment to support Management in the systematic change. They have been working long hours to revise strategies in the Company and we must keep that momentum. This will contribute positively in project implementation which will help the Department of Agriculture to achieve its goals. The aim was to ensure that we are aligned with their programmes. It is important that this organisation is self-sustainable and financially viable in order to not rely on the Government fiscus forever”, Kirsten concluded.
Minister Meyer thanked all Board Members for their sterling work and valuable contributions to take the Agricultural sector in the Western Cape to a higher level. “You are demonstrating your full commitment to the vision of boosting agricultural and economic development opportunities in rural communities and I thank you for that. I also want to encourage Casidra to be more involved in all agricultural activities in the Province. You must engage and work very closely with my Department because Casidra has an important role to play”, said Minister Meyer.
Dr Keith du Plessis, Casidra’s new CEO, thanked the Board for awarding him the opportunity to lead the organisation. He mentioned that Casidra has great skilled staff who are all passionate about what they do and the proof is in the pudding with 33 unqualified audits achieved to date. Good governance is what attracted me to join the Company. “My heartfelt gratitude goes to our Board of Directors for their leadership, our Executive Authority, Minister Meyer, for his guidance and Dr Mogale Sebopetsa, HOD of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, and his entire team for their full support and contributions as well as for trusting Casidra to deliver project management excellence.”, concluded du Plessis.