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MICT SETA looks within to find new CEO

Simnikiwe Mzekandaba
By Simnikiwe Mzekandaba, IT in government editor
Johannesburg, 16 May 2022
Matome Madibana, new CEO of MICT SETA.
Matome Madibana, new CEO of MICT SETA.

The Media, Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority (MICT SETA) has appointed Matome Madibana as its CEO.

His appointment follows a period in which he held the role in an acting capacity, following the suspension of former CEO Mdu Zakwe.

Delivering remarks on behalf of the MICT SETA board at a media briefing this morning, chairperson Simphiwe Thobela revealed the ICT sector training authority parted ways with Zakwe in July.

MICT SETA is a skills development institution established in terms of the Skills Development Act of 1998, with a mission to generate, facilitate and accelerate the processes of quality skills development at all levels in the MICT sector in South Africa.

Over the years, the organisation has faced a number of corruption allegations, including issues with its past leaders. Between 2018 and 2021, it parted ways with two CEOs as the result of corruption allegations levelled against them.

Acknowledging MICT SETA’s toxic past, Thobela said the board has been impressed with the manner in which Madibana is working to turn the organisation around.

“We are excited to officially appoint Mr Madibana as the new CEO of the MICT SETA, commencing 1 May 2022,” said the board chairperson.

“We believe this is the right decision, especially after he has successfully navigated the organisation and sector through the COVID-19 pandemic wherein digital transformation is at the forefront of the global agenda.

“In his role as acting CEO, he has demonstrated great leadership and sector understanding, and we believe with his experience and tenacity, he will continue to steer the organisation as it fulfils its mandate.”

Thobela revealed that among Madibana’s key focus areas has been clean governance internally, leading to the organisation achieving a clean audit in the last financial year.

In addition to the audit outcome, the CEO also focused on delivery. “We have seen under his tenure very improved delivery of our programmes – more than 80% delivery of our programmes.

“This is something we’ve been very happy with because previous delivery was sitting between 67% and 75%. We think for the financial year ended in March 2022, we’ll get better results as far as delivery of our programmes is concerned.

“We intend to better it every single year as we go.”

According to the organisation, Madibana has worked at MICT SETA for several years, having held various senior positions within the ICT sector training authority.

With 20 years’ industry experience, the newly-appointed CEO holds an honours BAdmin degree in industrial and organisational psychology. He’s also held various positions at the office of the premier in Limpopo, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, the Limpopo gambling board and the Molemole Local Municipality under Capricorn District Municipality.

Commenting on ICT and its role in youth development, Madibana stated: “IT is such an amazing space, if our youth take advantage of it. There’s so much that we can innovate and commercialise to the extent of exportation and to grow our economy to the level where it should be.

“Our competitive-edge as a country is our youth – who are in the majority. We must harness their talent and unleash their potential such that they drive innovation and enable us to actively participate and compete in the mainstream digital economy.”

Madibana’s appointment as MICT SETA CEO will run until 2025, which is the end of term of the current board.

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