Yet another acting head for SITA

By Martin Czernowalow for SITA
Johannesburg, 23 Jun 2009

The State IT Agency's (SITA's) leadership woes continue, as the organisation has now appointed yet another acting CEO.

The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) says SITA's chief of strategic service, Moses Mthimunye, has taken over from Femke Pienaar, who had been acting CEO for the better part of a year.

Pienaar's term as acting CEO has expired, says the DPSA statement, and she has resumed her duties as chief of business operations.

Mthimunye is part of a three-person CEO team, which includes Ramabele Magona Nthithe, chief of shared services, and Egshaan Khan, SITA's CIO.

The latest appointment is yet another in a string of permanent and acting CEOs that have made their way through the agency since its inception in 1999, and has punctuated the organisation's continuing leadership vacuum. During its 10 years of existence, SITA has seen more than half a dozen individuals filling the top spot.

Colin van Schalkwyk headed up SITA from November 2000 to July 2002, leaving the agency with 12 months left to run on his contract. He was replaced by acting CEO Ken Modise, who held the position until October 2003, before being replaced by Mavuso Msimang.

Ample warning

In the agency's entire history, Msimang is the only CEO to have served out his contract, but chose not to renew when it expired in May 2007. Msimang left for the Department of Home Affairs, where he took up the position of director-general.

Msimang's departure again created a leadership void, as his position was filled by non-executive director and chief of procurement Peter 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.

Despite this, it took about 13 months from Msimang's announcement before the agency appointed its next permanent CEO. The appointment of CEO Llewellyn Jones, in October 2007, come with its share of controversy, as SITA was widely criticised for putting a 60-year-old white male into the position.

However, Jones's reputation and track record in the ICT industry, as well as his solid leadership style, eventually won over many critics. Industry observers admitted that even though SITA may have flouted empowerment and transformation objectives with Jones's appointment, he was largely recognised as the right man to pull the ailing organisation out of its slump.

But Jones's stint as CEO came to an abrupt end in July last year. His departure - probably the most acrimonious split SITA had seen to date - brought to the fore many problems and infighting within the organisation.

Reports of his resignation surfaced during SITA's annual GovTech conference last year and entirely overshadowed the event, as SITA tried to downplay the issue and refused to make any public statements. This only served to fuel media speculation about Jones's resignation and rumours surfaced of a rift between Jones and government CIO Michelle Williams, who is also SITA's deputy chairperson.

Eventually, Jones admitted he was leaving SITA under a cloud and told ITWeb he was “gatvol”, as rumours of corruption, flouted procedures and a rift between senior management and the board gathered steam.

Under investigation

Former public service and administration minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi was quick to dispel any problems within the agency and downplayed Jones's resignation. It was only after her resignation, following the recall of former president Thabo Mbeki by the ANC, in September last year, that government finally admitted SITA faced major problems.

Newly-appointed public services and administration minister Richard Baloyi took a tough stance on SITA and vowed to restore the organisation as the “IT agency of choice” for government. Baloyi took issue with the huge turnover of senior management at SITA, as well as admitting the organisation was largely dysfunctional in its day-to-day functioning.

A ministerial task team was appointed in December last year to investigate SITA and Baloyi instructed the investigation to be completed before the April elections. During an interview with ITWeb, in January, he hinted at a large-scale shake-up at SITA and indicated the board, as well as the senior management structure, could well be in for a purge.

Baloyi also suspended the search for a CEO during this time, saying he wanted the task team to complete its investigation and submit its report to him first.

The DPSA has since gone quiet on the investigation, apart from confirming that a report had been submitted to the minister and that the task team had since been disbanded. Attempts to secure an interview with Baloyi, since his reappointment to the public service and administration portfolio, have been unsuccessful.

In a statement, the DPSA says the position of CEO “has been advertised with a view of filling the position in the next four months”.

It adds that “in a bid to further strengthen SITA, Mr Baloyi announced that his advisor, professor Solly Mollo, will provide close assistance to both the board and management over the next four months”.