Suspended CEO announced ‘remarkable results’

Leonard Neill
TWO DAYS prior to being suspended from his post as chief executive of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC), Mcebisi Jonas issued an annual report in which he stated the organisation had achieved remarkable results in the previous year and had taken ‘giant leaps forward.’
The ECDC’s finance unit had created or saved 8 070 jobs by extending loans and guarantees of more than R130million to provincial enterprises during the past year, he said.
In doing so, he added, an entirely new business model had emerged. “The corporation is steadily moving away from its old role as a lender of the last resort towards becoming the hub of enterprise development in the Eastern Cape.”
He described the shifts which had taken place within the ECDC during the past three years
as ‘seismic’.
“It is no exaggeration to say that we are boldly going where no other organisation has gone before. We believe there is no model for enterprise development agencies in our country. That is what we are establishing.
“In the last financial year the ECDC took a giant leap forward towards becoming a viable, effective enterprise development and support agency that focuses on the private sector.”