SITA erupts in chaos

By Martin Czernowalow for SITA
Johannesburg, 29 Jan 2009

The State IT Agency (SITA) has been thrown into turmoil by the resignation of four board members, as well as acting CEO Femke Pienaar - who has reportedly been convinced to stay, for the time being, by public service and administration minister Richard Baloyi.

No official comment has been issued by the agency, or the Department of Public Service and Administration, but sources say that Pienaar was in the process of retracting her resignation this morning, after agreeing to stay on for another two months.

However, the situation at SITA was described as “chaotic”, with a series of high-level meetings taking place, ostensibly regarding the board-level exodus.

Pienaar, SITA's chief of business operations, has been acting as CEO since the sudden resignation of Llewellyn Jones, in July last year, amid a breakdown of relations between him and government CIO Michelle Williams. Williams also holds the position of deputy chairperson of the SITA board.

Pienaar could not be reached for comment. SITA chairperson Zodwa Manase would also not comment until discussing the issue with Baloyi, but did indicate that reports about the resignations are true.

Baloyi's spokesperson also claims not have been able to obtain any confirmation of the situation at the beleaguered organisation.

Executive vs board

This latest blow comes amid a major restructuring of the organisation ordered by Baloyi, who has set some aggressive targets for the turnaround and appointed a ministerial task team to unpack the issues affecting the agency.

According to earlier comments by the minister, the overhaul could have far-reaching effects for SITA and could see a major restructuring of the board, as well as the executive.

Baloyi explained there is an urgent need to reposition the agency to be fully compliant with the SITA Act, in terms of its board constitution, governance, business model and procurement practices.

While reasons for the resignations are not know at this stage, sources close to SITA say that they were prompted by the task team's investigation and tensions between management and certain board members.

It is understood that the task team - made up of various people with diverse government and industry expertise - met with the SITA executive last week. This meeting, says a source, became a “board-bashing” session.

“The executive berated the board, calling it immature, irrational and accusing certain board members of driving their own agendas.”

Another source claims that the criticism was mainly levelled against Manase and Williams - the latter being accused of interfering with the day-to-day operations of SITA.

“Apparently, the executive's feelings were relayed to the board, without the mention of the members who were specifically targeted by the criticism. This resulted in the resignation of some of the members who, unfortunately, were actually doing a good job. It's a pity, as they probably felt frustrated about being surrounded by mediocrity,” says the source.

It is not known, at this stage, who the board members are who resigned, but it is understood that all of them were industry representatives.

Meanwhile, the task team was ordered to submit a preliminary report to Baloyi at the end of this month, regarding which areas of SITA need to be revamped. It is unclear how the board resignations would affect its investigation.

Political motives

Yet another well-placed source has suggested that the entire debacle was politically motivated, aimed at embarrassing the minister. Baloyi took over the public service and administration portfolio from Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, who resigned when the ANC recalled President Thabo Mbeki, in September last year.

This source claims that the situation looks bad for the new minister and that there are known Mbeki supporters within the SITA ranks who could have orchestrated the move.

“The people rumoured to have resigned cannot all be discredited as reactionaries or their actions fobbed off as inconsequential,” says the source.

“That this recent development has come as a result of the task team findings and served to sabotage, embarrass and undermine the efforts and the office of the minister is patently obvious in an election year.”

He adds that, “should the resignations be confirmed, any myths regarding negative and divisive forces on the board of SITA must once and for all be dispelled”.

In light of the situation, the source claims that the minister would have to dissolve the board.

“The minister is now faced with a board that, for all intents and purposes, has ceased to function effectively, despite his clear intention to approach the challenges of strengthening the organisation decisively and with some level of common sense and maturity.”