GovChat founder and former CEO Eldrid Jordaan has been admitted to the cardiac high-care unit at a hospital in Cape Town, ITWeb has learned.
ITWeb has further learned that Jordaan has been moved to cardiac intensive care, and doctors are attending to him.
The news comes on the back of the shock announcement of his exit as CEO of the company he founded.
In a short statement issued on Monday, Jordaan said he and chief data officer Goitse Konopi had resigned from the organisation. Jordaan did not provide further details, only stating that he will take some time off to reflect on the journey, and consider his next contribution.
Now, his doctors have advised it would not be possible for him to travel, so he will not be able to honour the US government’s invitation for him to attend the US-Africa Leaders Summit to be held in Washington DC, from 13 to 15 December.
Founded in 2016 and launched in 2018, GovChat is the official communications platform for government.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the platform – accessed through WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS and USSD channels – enabled millions of South Africans to digitally apply for social relief in distress (SRD) grants and report municipal issues, such as potholes in their area.
It also stepped in to assist SRD grant recipients to direct their enquiries to popular instant messaging platforms, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, through its fully-automated chatbot.
As part of the next phase, GovChat stated this will include citizens having access to more co-created features, and options to access more government services digitally.
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