Msimang takes top Home Affairs job

Johannesburg, 03 May 2007

Outgoing State IT Agency (SITA) CEO Mavuso Msimang has been appointed director-general of the much-maligned Department of Home Affairs.

Earlier this year, industry insiders suggested Msimang had been chosen for the role of CIO at Home Affairs. However, this morning Home Affairs minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula announced Msimang had been approved by Cabinet to take the DG role.

The department has been widely criticised over the past few years for its lack of progress in meeting objectives, wasteful expenditure, corruption and general inefficiency.

Last year, Mapisa-Nqakula appointed a task team, headed by Public Service Commission DG Odette Ramsingh, to investigate the department. The task team made several recommendations to the Home Affairs Portfolio Committee, including the need to appoint a DG as soon as possible.

It is hoped Msimang can turn the department around. Mapisa-Nqakula explains: "His experience in driving the commercialisation of the National Parks, while involving local communities in a wide range of economic development activities related to conservation, and his remarkable turnaround of the fortunes of SITA, have given us the confidence he is the right man to assist in successfully mastering the challenges we face at Home Affairs."

It is also hoped Msimang`s experience with SITA could be utilised to address Home Affairs` IT problems.

"We must get IT right; we must fight corruption more effectively, including through the implementation of systems designed to prevent it; and we must improve our client orientation. We are confident Msimang`s experience and track record in these and other crucial areas will provide major impetus for our programme to turn the department around and move towards our ultimate goal of making it a leading example of service provision by government to the people," said Mapisa-Nqakula.