Communications minister Roy Padayachie has finally moved to fill the vacant director-generalship at the department of communications. He has appointed Rosey Sekese as DG for five years, with effect from 1 June.

Sekese has worked at the department for the past five years as deputy DG for ICT infrastructure development.

The DG post has been vacant since last July, when Mamodupi Mohlala left the department after falling out spectacularly with former communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda. Mohlala is now head of the National Consumer Commission.

TechCentral previously reported that Sekese was in the running for the top job at the department, though Vodacom regulatory affairs executive Pakamile Pongwana had been seen by the technology industry as the most likely — and preferred — candidate for the position.

Sekese’s previous portfolio includes telecommunications and broadcasting around the 2010 soccer World Cup; IT; radio and satellite communications; technology infrastructure; and applications and security.

Before joining the department, Sekese worked at Denel as a group manager for IT. She’s also a former senior engineer at Telkom. At Denel, Sekese was responsible for the centralisation of all the divisional IT departments and also oversaw the implementation of a number of strategic projects. At Telkom, she was responsible for the planning of some of the company’s networks.

She has a degree in electrical engineering (telecoms) from the University of Cape Town and an MBA from North-West University.

For the past year, the DG position at the department has been filled in an acting capacity by Harold Wesso. — Staff reporter, TechCentral