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Job satisfaction down at SITA


Johannesburg, 06 Oct 2008

Large executive turnover and recent leadership scandals have left the State Information Technology Agency's (SITA) employees unhappy.

The agency's 2008 annual report shows that employee satisfaction levels dropped by 2%, caused by “Leadership challenges experienced during the past year”.

SITA's acting CEO, Femke Pienaar, says it has managed to stem the tide of employee turnover to 11.3%, a figure that is said to be below the industry average. However, the employee satisfaction levels remain a concern.

Former chairman Thenjiwe Chikane explained in her report: “The board acknowledges the leadership challenges experienced during the past year and the corresponding 2% drop in employee satisfaction levels.”

However, she has commended the executive for its efforts to manage the leadership turmoil and “swiftly reconstituting the executive team and mitigating the impact of the departures”.

SITA has lost two CEOs since May 2007 and has had to replace an entire executive team during the same period. The first was Mavuso Msimang, who resigned as CEO in May to join the Department of Home Affairs as its DG.

All of the executive team, which served under Msimang, left the organisation by the beginning of December last year. However, SITA managed to fill the executive positions by the beginning of January and Lewellyn Jones was appointed the agency's CEO.

“Notwithstanding this unfortunate and unforeseen situation, we moved rapidly to ensure that all executive vacancies in the organisation were filled to ensure minimal disruption to the continuity of our operations,” said Pienaar in the annual report.

Jones was appointed as SITA's new CEO in October last year. Scarcely a year after his appointment, he resigned amid allegations that government's new CIO, Michelle Williams, had interfered with SITA tender selection processes.

The SITA board said earlier this year it would launch its own investigation into the allegations surrounding the resignation of Jones. No information on the investigation has yet been revealed.

However, the agency has published a formal welcome to Williams in the annual report, since she joined the agency's board in October last year. “Their respective contributions are greatly appreciated and have already had an impact in ensuring that we discharge our responsibilities effectively,” said Chikane.

SITA's communications department has indicated that a new CEO has been identified and would be presented for approval at Cabinet's next meeting.

Related stories:
Llewellyn Jones named new SITA CEO
DPSA names CIO
BITF seeks SITA answers
SITA identifies new CEO

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