EDS appoints new MD for South Africa

EDS, the global IT services provider, has appointed Kam Chetty managing director of its South African operation.

The appointment follows not long after a partnership was signed between EDS South Africa and Koketso Gravitas, in terms of which the BEE consortium acquired a 20% shareholding in the company and Dr Bongani Khumalo was appointed non-executive chairman.

Kam Chetty is an economics and business management graduate with extensive experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors. He spent five years as a senior institutional specialist with the World Bank, and since 2002 was CEO of the Cape Winelands District Municipality.

His achievements there included:

* The successful merger of two regional and smaller municipalities into an effective single entity that in 2006 received the ZK Mathews Award for the best SA municipality;
* The design of a comprehensive performance management system that is currently being implemented by municipalities in this country as well as in Sweden and Ireland; and
* The development of a model for shared services centres that maximises the use of scarce public-sector resources.

Chetty is also a commissioner of the Financial and Fiscal Commission and the chairman of the Earth Equity Fund's advisory board. In 2004, he was appointed by President Thabo Mbeki to the reference group of the R1.5 billion Socially Responsible Fund, of which he is currently chairman.

One of Chetty's key responsibilities in recent years - and a strength - has been the implementation of new technologies to overcome resource constraints and improve operational efficiency.

Chetty takes over from Cortie Burton, a US expatriate who has managed EDS South Africa since 2004.