Nafeesa Moola, a systems developer, CIO and IT investment advisor, is remembered by her peers as a dynamic personality who helped develop key programmes in business and government sectors.
Moola, 45, passed away on 20 August after a battle with breast cancer. She is survived by her husband Imtiaz, daughter Raisa (17) and sons Muhammad (7) and Zayd (5).
Mohamed Bhyat, who worked with Moola on systems development in the Gauteng provincial government, says she was bright, energetic, and “always willing to go the extra mile”.
Born in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, Moola qualified as a Microsoft Certified Systems engineer, and held various diplomas in specialist IT fields, as well as an MBA from Bond University, Australia. According to the Link Centre, at Wits University, her core expertise lay in IT architecture and small systems design.
She started her career as a programmer and systems engineer at the Fedsure Group, later moving to the SA Post Office as manager of the IT support division. She successfully implemented a track and trace system for post offices countrywide.
In 1996, Moola joined the Ministry of Communications as the information society and development conference co-ordinator, and was responsible for hosting the G7 and SADC nations. She then joined the Gauteng provincial government as director of corporate informatics, to oversee systems development and technology architecture, standards and policy.
From 2001 to 2005, Moola was the chief director of information systems management for the South African Secret Service. She was placed in the Top 100 Black ICT Achievers in the African ICT Achievers Awards, and was a judge in the awards programme in 2006.
According to the Link Centre, Moola also made significant contributions to healthcare and telemedicine. Under her guidance, a patient administration and billing (PAAB) system, now utilised in hospitals in nine provinces, was developed. Bhyat, who was the provincial government CIO at the time, says the PAAB system was a marvellous piece of work and forms one of the building blocks of state patient administration.
“If there were more people like her working in government, a lot more would get done.”
In 2005, Moola took a sabbatical to spend time with her children, during which time she supported several small ICT businesses, advised investment companies on ICT decisions, and served on the boards of various emerging ICT companies.
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