SITA drops Peter Pedlar

The State IT Agency (SITA) has axed one of its senior executives, refusing to renew his contract when it expires on 31 October.

SITA spokesperson Anthea Summers confirmed that chief of regulatory affairs and procurement Peter Pedlar's contract is coming to an end, and stated that the agency “has mechanisms in place to deal with this situation”.

“The information that Peter Pedlar's contract ends on 31 October 2009 and that he is serving out his notice period this month is correct,” Summers says.

She also confirmed that former Department of Defence procurement chief Bruce Ramfolo is currently “shadowing” Pedlar, and would take over the position - as interim head of this portfolio - from the beginning of November.

Ramfolo is expected to remain in the position until the appointment of a permanent candidate.

Summers refused to be drawn on reasons for SITA's decision to let Pedlar go, saying the matter is a confidential issue “between employer and employee and, as such, SITA will not comment on contracts”. Pedlar would not comment on the situation either, referring all questions to the agency's communications department.

Ramfolo was appointed chief of defence acquisitions in 2002, following the resignation of Shamin "Chippy" Shaik, who stepped down in light of the controversy surrounding the country's multibillion-rand arms deal.

Prior to that, Ramfolo worked for Armscor since 1996, where he was the acquisition manager of the Corvette Project. Ramfolo declined to renew his contract, according to late defence secretary January Masilela, and left the Department of Defence last year.

The move not to retain the services of Pedlar - a long-serving executive at SITA - is expected to deepen the agency's leadership dearth and further disrupt management continuity.

SITA has long struggled to retain a stable leadership structure, having gone through numerous acting and permanent CEOs during its 10 years of existence, and losing many experienced executives along the way. Mavuso Msimang, the current Home Affairs director-general, is the only SITA CEO to date to serve out his contract. He left the agency in May 2007.

Msimang's departure again created a leadership void, as his position was filled by Pedlar, in an acting capacity. Pedlar's tenure lasted five months and SITA came under fire during this period for dragging its feet in regard to finding a permanent replacement. Msimang had given the agency several months' warning that he did not intend to renew his contract when it expired.

Meanwhile, SITA says it did not remove chief of strategic services Moses Mtimunye from the acting CEO team, but that he simply relinquished the leadership of the team, in accordance with the rotational principle of the SITA acting policy.

“The rotation from Moses Mtimunye to Ramabele Magoma-Nthite, to lead the team, took effect from 1 October 2009. Ms Magoma-Nthite is supported by the members of the CEO team - Moses Mtimunye and Eghshaan Khan,” explains Summers.

Summers states that the “rotational policy” would see one of the CEO team members taking over the lead every three months.

An internal SITA memo states: “In accordance with the rotational principle of the SITA acting policy, as decided by the SITA board, Ms Ramabele Magoma-Nthite will lead the SITA CEO team, with effect from Thursday, 1 October 2009, until further notice.”