SITA closes in on new CEO

By Leon Engelbrecht for SITA
Johannesburg, 12 Jun 2007

The State IT Agency (SITA) is conducting the second round of interviews with candidates for its vacant chief executive's seat.

SITA spokesman Elton Fortuin says the SITA board is responsible for selecting and recommending a new CEO. The final decision resides with Cabinet, acting on the recommendation of public service and administration minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi.

"In light of the process to appoint a new CEO, we believe it prudent not to speculate on a likely timeframe to conclude the appointment," Fortuin says.

"Notwithstanding, the SITA board is making every effort to expedite the matter."

SITA has contracted Johannesburg black empowerment recruiting company Leaders Unlimited to help it in its quest.

Fortuin says "due consideration is being given to all suitable candidates, both within and outside the organisation".

In the meantime, Fortuin says: "The SITA board is confident the organisation has a highly qualified and experienced executive team in place to support the acting CEO, Peter Pedlar, until such time as a permanent CEO is appointed."

The SITA hot seat became vacant when Mavuso Msimang was appointed Home Affairs department director-general in early May.

Msimang acquired a reputation as a turnaround champion at SITA, with the agency noting that during his tenure, customer satisfaction levels increased by over 50% in 18 months.

"Corruption has been reduced to negligible levels and tender turnaround times have been fast-tracked from 240 days to 78 days."