Microsoft Director appointed as ITA President

Issued by Information Technology Association for Information Technology Association of South Africa
Johannesburg, 21 May 2009

At the 75th Information Technology Association (ITA) annual general meeting, held in Midrand last week, Chose Choeu, Director for Corporate Affairs at Microsoft South Africa, was appointed as President for the 2009/10 term.

Choeu is no stranger to the information and communications technology sector. His current tenure is as Director of Corporate Affairs at Microsoft. He has a longstanding history at executive level with Telkom. Choeu brings to ITA a unique combination, educational and teaching experience, and ICT knowledge with a sound understanding of international policy and managerial skills.

Choeu started his career in the late seventies in the education and teaching field. He started out as a teacher in the Kuruman area, working his way up as a principal.

It was a natural progression to enter the parliamentary realm. Following on from this, the next journey was to enter the exhilarating field of ICT as Senior Manager for Government Relations at Telkom. From there, he moved into the regulatory arena as an Executive for Regulatory and Government Relations also at Telkom before moving to Microsoft in 2003.

He is passionate about education, and positively contributing towards the social, transformation and economical agendas within South Africa. He has always believed that one should be prepared to put some time and energy back into the industry, and broader society.

He walks his talk and has spent many years in the pursuit of academic qualifications and to date continually follows a professional development path.

Speaking on his appointment as ITA President, Choeu said: “I am honoured to be elected President of ITA and I thank the Executive Council for putting their trust in me to take over the responsibilities from the previous incumbent Adam Rabie. It is essential that ITA aligns its programmes with that of government which will focus on education, health, land reform and rural development, the fight against crime as well as creating decent work. We are determined to leave an indelible mark in these five areas.”

The following MANCO members were appointed to help Choeu with the supervision over the affairs of ITA:

* Vice-President - Janette Cumming (Director, Paracon SA (Pty) Ltd)

* Honorary Treasurer - Roger Latchman (MD, PKF Chartered Accountants & Business Advisors (Pty) Ltd)

* Vice-President - Tebogo Makgatho (Sales and Marketing Director, Torque IT)

* Co-opted Sylvia Thomaides (Operations Director, Tricruit Group)

* Co-opted Maphum Nxumalo (Director Business Development & Corporate Affairs - SAP)

To assist the above management team in their commitment to achieve the challenges of the ITA, the following member companies have been elected onto the ITA Executive Council:

* PKF BEE Solutions Pty Ltd
* Torque IT Technical Computers
* Paracon SA Pty Ltd
* Accsys Pty Ltd
* Axiz Pty Ltd
* KTS Technology Solutions
* Bytes Technology Group Ltd
* Siemens Ltd
* Tricruit Recruitment Specialists
* Specialized Exhibitions Pty Ltd
* Microsoft SA
* Satreno Consulting (co-opted)
* Bateleur Software Pty Ltd
* Dell Computers Pty Ltd
* Softline VIP
* Business Connexion Group Ltd
* IBM South Africa
* SAP South Africa Pty Ltd
* E Waste Association of South Africa (EWASA)
* Kelly ICT
* M-Solutions Pty Ltd (co-opted)
* Paxsal

ITA

* The Information Technology Association (ITA) is the trade and employer body of the IT industry.

* ITA members are seen as preferred suppliers, because they have signed a code of ethics/membership to the ITA enhances an image of unscrupulous business ethics and sound business practices by the public statement made as a signatory to the Code of Ethics.

* The ITA represents various companies concerned with the supply of information technology equipment, systems, software and services in the ICT industry. The ITA comprises a body of members actively participating in issues and events, which directly or indirectly affect business and need attention at national, international, governmental, NGO, parastatal and business level.

* One of the many functions of the ITA is lobbying and negotiating at government level on behalf of its members. The ITA works in close liaison with government, consumer and other specialist organisations. Through its close association with the ISETT SETA and Services SETA, the ITA promotes the maintenance of high standards of IT industry technical skills in accordance with international trends.

* The purpose of the ITA as stated in its constitution is to “represent and promote the interests of its members, which shall be employers active in the information technology sector”.

* The core objective of the South African government as set out in 2004 is to halve poverty and unemployment by 2014. By being able to constantly evolve in a fast-paced ICT environment, the ITA believes that we, as an ICT community, can meet these objectives through cooperation, partnerships and sustainable development initiatives encouraging new businesses to proliferate and expand in order to pave the way for industry growth.

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