Pretoria: 25 July 2016
The hunt for a new leader for the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) has begun in earnest, with a call for applications to fill the post of Chief Executive Officer, placed on national newspapers at the weekend.
The endeavor is to plug a hole left by the sudden departure recently of former CEO and long serving SAMSA top executive, Commander Tsietsi Mokhele. He resigned ‘with immediate effect’ on May 24, but had his departure delayed to end of June while a ‘forensic investigation’ was being conducted.
Mr Mokhele had been with SAMSA as CEO since 2008. On his resignation in May, SAMSA Chief Operating Officer, Mr Sobantu Tilayi was appointed as acting CEO. The Financial Mail recently quoted Mr Mokhele as saying he would be pursuing his personal business interest still within the maritime economic sector.
“I am staying in the maritime industry to mobilize our industry to make sure it takes advantage of the opportunities under Operation Phakisa,” the FM quoted Mr Mokhele as saying.
Meanwhile, on Friday SAMSA moved swiftly in an effort to plug the gap, issuing out an invitation to suitable candidates to apply for the position. The advert was distributed both internally within the organization as well as through weekend national newspapers.
SAMSA, with its head office located in the country’s administrative capital, Pretoria but with operations across the country; is a public entity established in terms of Act 5 of 1998 to administer certain laws and to ensure safety of life at sea, pollution control and promotion of the country’s maritime interest.
In the ad, the organization says it is in the hunt for someone to: “lead and manage SAMSA for effective execution of its vision, mission and strategic objectives (and), as part of the national transport strategy, position SAMSA as a key strategic organization for the attainment of national, economic and transformational goals including Africa and the international sphere.
The successful person would in addition, be required to: “provide leadership within SAMSA to achieve transformation, empowerment, capacity building and service delivery; manage inter- governmental developments and relationships to achieve collective execution of maritime goals whilst complying with International Conventions (and) work effectively with SAMSA Board, management, shareholder, staff and stakeholders to achieve SAMSA’s mandate.”
SAMSA requires the likely suitable candidate to, among others; not only possess a recognized university degree – with a Master’s in Business Management (MBA) deemed advantageous – but to also be a South African citizen with “leadership and management experience with at least 5 years at executive management level – with experience in and or exposure to the maritime industry considered a significant advantage.
(For full detail, click here Vacancy advertisement )
The deadline for applications for the SAMSA CEO is Friday this week, 29 July 2016.
End