Haiveta served as Minister of Finance in the government of Julius Chan from 1994 to 1997.[4] They both resigned in 1997 during the Sandline Affair. Soon after that, Haiveta briefly became foreign minister but had left that post by the end of 1997. He became governor of Gulf Province for the first time in 1997, lost that post in 1998 and became governor again in 2002. He lost the election July 2007, and left the governorship later that year after the parliamentary elections. He worked for the Prime Minister's department following his election loss in 2007.