The executive committee of the State IT Agency (SITA) is strong enough to pull the organisation through stormy waters, even though its CEO has resigned.
This is according to Femke Pienaar, chief of business operations at SITA, who was reacting to the resignation of CEO Llewellyn Jones, who has called it quits after less than a year in office.
This week, ITWeb reported exclusively that Jones resigned late last week after a fall-out with government CIO Michelle Williams. It is believed she wanted him to change the adjudication of SITA's e-government tender, something he refused to, but did drive him to the point of being "gatvol".
Pienaar says the current executive, however, has the depth to survive the latest crisis.
"The leadership has come through the organisation, they've been there," she says. "They know what happened in the past and they won't fall into those traps."
According to her, the "leadership" should be seen to be the total executive committee (exco).
"We have built a team, and we understand each other's territories and roles," she says. "We'll face it together - we can pull through this."
SITA's Web site still lists its executive as comprising of Jones (CEO), Pienaar (chief of business operations), Andre Pretorius (chief financing officer), Moses Mtimunye (chief of strategic services), Egshaan Khan (CIO), Emily Nthiti (chief of shared services), and Peter Pedlar (chief of regulatory affairs and procurement).
Election pressure
Pienaar briefed delegates on SITA's plan of action after GovTech 2008, in the marked absence of Jones.
According to her, the body will have a number of priorities in the year to come, including:
* Developing a national ICT policy, ICT strategic plan and ICT security plan, based on existing plans;
* Developing a green ICT strategy for government;
* Implementing an e-procurement portal in order to streamline commodity type tenders;
* Defining alternative business models within the context of alternative procurement models and open source implementation;
* Defining an e-Citizen Charter that is aligned with the Batho Pele principles; and
* Defining an ICT governance risk and compliance framework for government ICT.
She says with elections coming up, "there is enormous pressure on government to deliver services, and SITA is its main partner, so we will feel that pressure".
In addition, Pienaar says general market frustrations, like the ongoing skills shortage, hamper SITA in accomplishing its work.
But, she says, the next year will be one for delivery. Her key message for the year, post GovTech 2008, was "let's implement, and change government services dramatically".
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