Hamilton Ratshefola, a leading figure in South Africa’s IT industry who had served as CEO of Gijima since last year, has passed away.

On Sunday, Gijima chairman Robert Gumede announced Ratshefola’s passing, describing him in a statement as “an inspirational leader gone too soon”. Ratshefola was 56 and died after a short illness.

“Gijima, its shareholders, board, executive, staff and the ICT industry have undoubtedly lost a leader par excellence, a friend, a mentor and an innovator, passionate about all things ICT, and the turnaround and sustainability of Gijima,” said Gumede.

Ratshefola joined Gijima as CEO in May 2022 after a long stint at IBM as GM for the sub-Saharan African region. He was also founder of Auxilium Capital and founder of the Cornastone group of companies.

“The ICT industry owes an incalculable debt of gratitude to Hamilton Ratshefola, as do the thousands of engineers and sales teams who have been led by him for nearly three decades. Hamilton set the bar high for IT sales executives and continuously encouraged the same level of excellence from all his colleagues,” Gumede said.

‘Passionate’

“A consummate teacher and leader, Hamilton strove to ensure that practical training and continuing ICT education be accessible and affordable (and at times free) for aspirant young ICT professionals.

“Hamilton was passionate about personal integrity, ethical business, the uplifting of professionals, and the potential of this country and the rest of the continent,” Gumede added.