SITA COO quits

By Leon Engelbrecht for SITA
Johannesburg, 04 Oct 2007

State IT Agency (SITA) business operations chief executive Noedine Isaacs-Mpulo has apparently resigned, reportedly because she was overlooked for the agency's top job.

This morning she would neither confirm - nor deny - talk that she was leaving SITA, or whether it related to a thwarted ambition to sit in the CEO's chair.

"Speak to SITA first. I'd be happy to speak to you afterwards," she said. When ITWeb phoned back, her mobile phone was on voicemail. She later responded that "at this point I have no comment".

Asked whether Isaacs-Mpulo had resigned, SITA acting CEO Peter Pedlar responded by SMS: "I have seen a resignation from a senior person but it was done procedurally incorrect and I refused [to] deal w[ith] it."

In a telephonic follow-up, he confirmed that a female member of the executive committee had tendered a resignation, but to SITA chairperson Thenjiwe Chikane. Pedlar says resignations normally come to him. He says Chikane will now deal with the matter. "It is a very difficult situation. This resignation was done in a very strange manner."

Patience required

Public service and administration minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi last month asked for patience regarding the appointment of a new CEO. Her spokesman, Lewis Rubkin, expressed surprise at the resignation.

The agency has been without a permanent CEO since May, when Mavuso Msimang left to become director-general at the Department of Home Affairs. Msimang is understood to have notified the organisation's board in September last year of his intent to step down.

Pedlar, previously a non-executive board member, has held the top post in an acting capacity since Msimang's departure. Neither Pedlar nor Rubkin could this morning say when a CEO would be appointed. Pedlar expressed the hope that, bearing in mind the constraints on the minister, it would happen "as soon as possible".

ITWeb has reported that three candidates have been abortively short-listed for the post. All had either declined, or had been deemed too expensive.

The contenders were former MTN MD Maanda Manyatshe, former Cell C service provider turned BEE investor Vincent Raseroka, and Independent Electoral Commission standing chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula.

Empty executive suite

Isaacs-Mpulo's departure will leave another empty office in SITA's executive suite. Pedlar recently said SITA was ready to make some senior appointments, but was required to wait for a new CEO to be named before it could proceed.

Jonas Bogoshi, until recently chief of strategic services, was a case in point, he said. Bogoshi is now GijimaAst CEO.

"I have a shortlist of candidates for this position. The people on that list have the appropriate mix of private and public sector experience to deal with the requirements of an organisation such as SITA. However, the final appointment needs to be approved by the CEO."

Speaking in late September, he was also confident that two vacant board positions would be filled this month. "...Fraser-Moleketi has assured us that these vacancies will be filled within the next four weeks," he said.

Pedlar acknowledged the departure of some key figures over the past year was likely to negatively impact its workforce culture survey scheduled for year-end.

"It would not be realistic to expect otherwise. All we can do is try our level best to stabilise our environment for our workforce. The rest, as they say, is just life."

However, Pedlar remains upbeat about the organisation's employees and working environment.

"We have some really great people who are doing great work. Our general managers and heads of department are highly-skilled and passionate about the job at hand. We are working closely with these people to ensure the implementation of our HR model which looks to identify core skills and treat them appropriately."