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PSICT Forum readies chapters in other provinces

Simnikiwe Mzekandaba
By Simnikiwe Mzekandaba, IT in government editor
Johannesburg, 23 Apr 2021
Mandla Mkhwanazi, digital business leader of Transnet and chairman of the Public Sector ICT Forum.
Mandla Mkhwanazi, digital business leader of Transnet and chairman of the Public Sector ICT Forum.

The forum of public sector ICT decision-makers is planning to roll out more chapters of the Public Sector ICT (PSICT) Forum event in other provinces across the country.

This is according to Mandla Mkhwanazi, digital business leader at Transnet and chairman of the PSICT Forum, delivering the opening remarks at the forum’s Johannesburg event this morning.

Initiated in September 2016, the PSICT Forum, organised by ITWeb Brainstorm in association with MTN Business, is a platform for public sector ICT decision-makers to engage and discuss topics that are key to innovation in service delivery.

The forum is also an opportunity for the ICT executives to detail how they are digitally reinventing their organisations in order to stay ahead of digital transformation, and the role of the private sector, civil society, public sector and SMMEs in advancing digital inclusion and economic growth.

This year’s event was hosted in hybrid form, which saw attendees join online and in-person in Morningside, Johannesburg. The theme for the event was: “Accelerated digital transformation and inclusion as drivers for economic growth”.

Mkhwanazi pointed out that in the recent past, they realised the venue in Gauteng is getting too small, especially with the attendance of everyone coming from different provinces.

“We did launch a chapter in Polokwane two years ago, and we launched another chapter in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga,” he said. “We are about to roll out again more of these virtual or physical chapters in the provinces.

“With virtual events, we’ve managed to reach out even across our continent. It was our ambition that at some point, we’ll get more coverage to the continent for this forum.”

He thanked event organisers ITWeb and Brainstorm, speakers as well as headline sponsor MTN Business, saying: “We are able to roll out the chapters in other provinces because of their anchor support.”

During her welcome note, Noluthando Pama, GM of enterprise sales and operations at MTN Business, expressed delight in continuing the partnership with the PSICT Forum. “We are really happy that this partnership is advancing and having the benefits that we want to be seeing.”

Pama added: “As MTN Business, we are probably known to be a mobile, voice, mobile data and fixed connectivity provider. In the foreseeable future, we are really going to be investing our efforts in our advanced enterprise services, namely cloud, IOT and AI.

“It’s a really interesting journey for us to be playing in that space and be delivering those services to our various clients.”


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