The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), an entity of the department of science & innovation that has not had a permanent CEO since 2019, is set to appoint yet another acting CEO — this time tapping its CFO Ismail Abdoola for the role.
Abdoola will spend half his time commuting from Durban to Pretoria, where the agency is based.
Business Day has reliably learnt that Addoola is in line for the acting CEO position, replacing his boss and soon to be subordinate Patrick Krappie. Krappie has been acting CEO since 2020 until Business Day reported on the story last month.
TIA confirmed it has now decided to rotate the acting CEO role, with Abdoola being considered to have the first bite at the cherry as the agency hunts for an elusive permanent CEO.
“TIA has not appointed its CFO to the role of acting CEO. However, there is currently a board process of rotation of the acting CEO under way. The appointment of the CFO to the role of acting CEO has not been finalised,” TIA said. “He will act in the role of CEO for the duration of the recruitment process of a permanent CEO.”
Several members of the entity’s executive committee are also in acting capacities, with some having acted for as long as two years.
The agency was established in 2009 to support the state in stimulating and intensifying technological innovation to improve economic growth by developing and exploiting technological innovations.
The agency, which is also mandated to invest in and support innovators, entrepreneurs and SMEs to commercialise their technology, said Krappie will revert to his role as executive responsible for innovation enabling.
TIA previously told Business Day Krappie has been acting in the role of CEO since June 2020 because science, technology & innovation minister Blade Nzimande had ordered an institutional review of the organisation that year — a process it said was only completed a few months ago.
TIA is facing a R11m lawsuit from the candidate who was interviewed for the role and was meant to take over as CEO in 2020 before the institutional review put brakes on the appointment.
Business Day reported last month the working from home arrangement of Abdoola has caused discord in the entity, particularly as it relates to expenses to regularly commute between his home in Durban and Pretoria.
Abdoola has been based in Durban since April 2022, with internal sources saying his travel and accommodation expenses have cost taxpayers a fortune because the nature of the role requires that he be at TIA’s headquarters in Pretoria.
TIA said this arrangement will stay in place upon his appointment as acting CEO. “Once his appointment has been finalised, he will work from both Durban and Pretoria offices in line with operational requirements.”
It is not the first time the organisation has found itself in an awkward leadership arrangement. It was previously chaired by Stephen Lennon, who was appointed to the role even though he resides permanently in Australia — a situation that upset MPs, leading to his ouster.
Under Krappie and Abdoola’s leadership, TIA incurred unnecessary expenses totalling nearly R4m after disgruntled employees dragged the entity to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration after they were unfairly excluded from the entity’s bonus scheme last year.
TIA top brass decided to hike the qualification ratings for the bonus scheme to ensure a bigger pie for themselves and other employees, against the entity’s policy.
The policy says for one to be considered for a performance bonus, performance must be rated at least at three out of a score of five. But when the performance appraisals were completed, some of TIA’s executives and board members decided to increase the qualification rating to 3.6 — a decision that excluded more than 50 workers.
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