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ICT industry mourns as ‘trailblazer’ Chose Choeu dies

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 10 Feb 2021
Former ITA president and ICT industry trailblazer Chose Choeu has passed away.
Former ITA president and ICT industry trailblazer Chose Choeu has passed away.

The ICT industry and associated bodies in their entirety have extended heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of well-revered giant, Chose Choeu.

In a statement, organisations Digital Council Africa, South Africa Communications Forum, Information Technology Association (ITA), Black IT Forum, ICT SMME Chamber, Institute of Chartered IT Professionals (SA) and the America Chamber of Commerce SA pay homage to Choeu, whom they describe as someone who made a massive contribution to the sector.

A former president of the ITA, Choeu began his career in the late 1970s in the education and teaching field.

He started out as a teacher in the Kuruman area, later moving up the ranks to the position of school principal.

After this, he ventured into the ICT industry, starting out as senior manager for government relations at Telkom.

Subsequent to that, he took on a new challenge of being in the regulatory arena as the executive for regulatory and government relations.

He then moved to Microsoft SA in 2003, taking on the role of director of legal and corporate affairs, where he worked on cutting-edge business and regulatory issues in that environment.

In 2010, he joined Eskom as divisional executive for corporate affairs.

The organisations say: “Because he also understood the evolution of the public policy and the regulatory space to enable technology advancement for social good, he redefined this function from one specifically focused on legal matters, to one which merged business strategy with public policy.

“This then allowed for bilateral relations between the private sector and the public service to collaborate in the battle against the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment facing the country and continent. He was therefore a trailblazer in this space and allowed for those that followed in his footsteps in the entire industry to have a template of how it should be done.”

Choeu also served on various boards, including as chairman of the Eskom Development Foundation B, chairman of the Performance Management and Remuneration Panel of the South African Local Government Association and president of the International Chamber of Commerce and VP of American Chamber of Commerce in South Africa, among others.

“His death will leave a great void in the sector, but his contribution has significantly shaped the ICT sector as we know it today. He will be sorely missed by all those that knew him.” 

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