The State IT Agency's (SITA) new acting CEO, Femke Piennar, says her most important task is to stabilise the organisation, following the controversial resignation of Llewellyn Jones.
The agency was last week rocked by news that Jones tendered his resignation, after only nine months at the helm, amid allegations that government CIO Michelle Williams had interfered with SITA's tender evaluation process.
Pienaar, who is SITA's chief of business operations, has been with the organisation since its inception, and says the company is dealing with several big projects and cannot afford to see these derailed.
She says that part of her strategy will be to communicate the "facts" of what happened to SITA staff.
"There have been mixed feelings within SITA. There are many people who want to know the details of what happened and I want them to know that this is a single, isolated incident. SITA has the capability and the capacity to carry on."
When asked whether she is sure that no past tenders had been interfered with, Pienaar responded: "Let's get to the facts. I can't say for sure that this has never happened before, but I don't think so."
She described Jones's resignation as a "blow" to SITA, adding that the agency has a history of high executive and CEO turnover.
"But I am optimistic that we can pick it up. With SITA being part of government, our challenges often end up in the media," she says.
"I want to focus on business and leave all emotions out of it."
Pienaar says the response from the private sector has not been large, but was mainly positive.
Meanwhile, the SITA board announced that it would launch it own investigation into the allegations surrounding Williams. This is a separate probe from the one being conducted by the Department of Public Services and Administration.
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