The Black IT Forum (BITF) is moving out staff members who have been permanently stationed at several State IT Agency (SITA) provincial offices, following an auditor-general's report, says BITF president Mdu Mkhonza.
Speaking at a meeting in Cape Town yesterday, Mkhonza said some BITF staff had been stationed at SITA, the government's central IT procurement agency, in the KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and Gauteng provincial offices.
“The auditor-general's report raised the issue of a non-government organisation having a permanent presence in these offices. We have agreed to move out staff, but have asked for some time to arrange this,” he said.
Mkhonza, who is also CEO of Durban-based software development and system integrator company Microvision Tekatoka, said the BITF needed to have staff situated close to SITA as small black-owned IT companies did not have the same regulatory resources as their much larger competitors.
“We have been able to get SITA to withdraw one of its tenders, tender number 385 (provisioning of IT cabling) due to pressure from the BITF,” he said.
Mkhonza could not say how many BITF staff were stationed in the SITA offices, but added they were being accommodated rent-free and that one of the reasons for moving was the concerns raised by the auditor-general of security and inappropriate access.
SITA did not respond to ITWeb's requests for comment this morning.
A new class
The BITF, which owns a 10% share in its investment arm Blitec, will also look at expanding its investment activities.
“We are considering putting together some kind of consortium to purchase the proposed Microsoft BEE share deal,” Mkhonza said.
He implied it was time for new black IT sector professionals to begin to make money out of the sector, by saying: “The class of 1999 (when the BITF was founded) has done their thing. Now we are looking to create a class of 2009/10.”
This also meant the current share structuring of Blitec would be looked at, as Mkhonza said the original intention was that the BITF would be the largest single minority shareholder and this no longer seemed to be the case.
“Over the years, there has been a lot of shareholding reshuffling going on and we don't know the exact breakdown now,” he said.
Mkhonza also said the BITF, which had been drifting for the past year, would revamp itself and become a place for black IT professionals to foster their careers and would increase its membership.
He said there are currently 150 full-time members of the organisation, but that often its events draw crowds of 1 500 people and are generally well attended.
The BITF will continue with its activities to get the ICT charter gazetted by government and it would continue as an activist lobbying group to promote black people within the ICT sector, Mkhonza said.
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