The decision by Andile Ngcaba to move into business comes as no real surprise to Department of Communications watchers, as it is readily apparent that his personality is suited to sales rather than buying.
One only has had to attend a number of the Department`s press briefings to have seen how his own energy, often spilling over into outright impatience, affects the overall mood of the briefing as he waits for his superior, usually the incumbent minister, to have his or her say.
His uneasy alliance with his political superiors often manifested itself with dark glances immediately accompanied by as sudden look in the opposite direction and a sudden draw of breath. Every now and then he would make the bold move of answering a question on behalf of the minister, which not only indicated that he was knowledgeable on the topic, but would rather get the meeting over and done with so that he could move onto the next item on his list of things to do for the day.
Ngcaba`s almost boundless energy and eclectic view of the world, coupled with a limited attention span meant he often jumped from one subject to another, before becoming bored and moving on.
It should come as no surprise that his high levels of energy should be stifled somewhat by the stodgy atmosphere of the civil service. What is a surprise is that he managed to last eight years as the Director General of a government department that straddles the industrial and trade and service delivery clusters making it one of the most difficult departments to head.
The fact that he outlasted two of the three ministers to become currently the longest serving director general is more of a testimony to his ability to survive difficult circumstances, a skill that was no doubt honed while he was a member of the African National Congress`s military wing in exile during the 1980s. During that time he was trained as a communications specialist with an emphasis on radar and satellite communications as he rose through the ranks of Umkhonto we Sizwe.
Ngcaba`s lifetime achievements, while centered on the ICT arena, illustrate that he has prepared himself for more than a public service career. He has a management from overseas universities, a masters degree in information science from the University of the Witwatersrand and an honorary doctorate from Fort Hare University.
Ngcaba`s almost boundless energy and eclectic view of the world, coupled with a limited attention span meant he often jumped from one subject to another, before becoming bored and moving on.
Paul Vecchiatto, journalist, ITWeb
During his tenure as Director General he oversaw some extremely difficult times. The rise and fall of the dot com bubble, the waxing and waning enthusiasm for the privatisation of state assets such as Telkom and the restructuring of SABC, the Post Office and Sentech.
Some 10 pieces of communications linked legislation were passed by parliament where he served as a prime mover. Although there is still a lot of criticism about the quality of some of the new acts, to be fair, much of this legislation related to specific industry and social demands that have since been passed and are no longer relevant, or are not quite what they should be as the type of laws were so new.
For instance, the Electronic and Communications Transaction Act passed in 2002 has some very clear passages demarcating responsibility of transactions, but fails to define exactly what an electronic transaction is. The broadcasting acts have become so numerous and difficult to manage that public prosecutors charged a man with under the wrong law for watching DSTV illegally.
While he has tried to keep his future plans under wraps, there is no doubt that Ngcaba has definite plan and that includes using all his personal resources to the full. That includes his understanding of the way government works and his extensive list of contacts and the influence he wields in political and businesses circles.
Probably the biggest hint of exactly what kind of business Ngcaba plans to start can be gained from his current research interest and that is how mobile devices will be used as transacting tools for financial services, in particular electronic transactions technologies and payment.
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