For the 2024 Public Sector CIO Award winner, Pandelani Munyai, everything has to have a scientific approach and reasoning behind it. Now he is tapping into his science background to rewrite South Africa’s digital future as Transnet’s CIO.
Pandelani brings rare intellectual depth to one of South Africa’s most strategically important technology leadership roles – leading the parastatal’s IT strategy. With physics, chemistry, mathematics, electrical engineering, electronic engineering and business leadership degrees under his belt, there is no doubting his academic acumen. Not to mention decades of experience across Eskom, Sentech, Telkom and Vodacom, and stints working in Nigeria and Italy.
Now overseeing the revitalisation of Transnet’s technology backbone, he applies that same structured thinking across cloud platforms, AI implementation and digital strategy. But Pandelani also draws from life far beyond server rooms: from football fields in his youth to hiking routes with family and study tours through Seoul.
Pandelani’s leadership is rooted in deep academic training and a wealth of experience obtained in high-cutting edge technology companies such Siemens that taught him the principles of breaking and fixing things. “I put lots of emphasis on understanding the science behind systems and processes,” he says.
“We’re doing what I call technology refresh,” he explains matter-of-factly. “We are modernising old systems into new technology platforms for the future, which is a foundation for real digital transformation.”
A major focus for Pandelani has been migrating Transnet’s legacy ERP system – built on outdated and desperate SAP ECC 6 modules across Transnet’s different operating divisions – into SAP S/4HANA's cloud-based platform. For Pandelani, it’s about preparing Transnet for an era where full business transformation capability such AI/ML and big data analytics, will be realised as those capabilities come embedded rather than bolted on. “In the past, you’d need separate teams or divisions for things like machine learning,” he says. “But now everything comes fully prepared. You don’t have to worry about hosting separate environments; you just train these modules.”
Leading with wisdom and understanding
Pandelani believes true technology leaders must understand not only people but systems, too. “In many instances, people say ‘just manage your team’. But if you’re managing people without knowing what they’re doing technically – that’s not enough,” he says firmly. “If someone has difficulties delivering something – you can only guide them if you’ve done that work before yourself.”
He drew comparisons with other sectors: “In hospitals today, you won’t often find CEOs who aren’t medical doctors anymore,” he observes. “Because when doctors ask for resources or decisions need making around patient care... it’s better when leaders know exactly what they’re talking about.”
Before joining Transnet as group CIO in 2020, Pandelani had already left his mark on South Africa’s digital public sector landscape during his time at SITA. There, frustrated by the slow e-government rollout despite progressive policy frameworks like SA Connect, he looked overseas for inspiration, particularly toward Asia. “South Korea stood out,” says Pandelani. “They’ve got no natural resources like we do, but they survive because their oil is data mining and digital technologies.”
He led a delegation thereafter of extensive research into global best practice models around e-government services delivery, especially the KYC (know your citizen) programme that was intended for the government to verify, process and identify the identities of the citizens through a single integrated platform.
“What impressed me was their approach wasn’t just digitisation first – it was digital readiness first,” recalls Pandelani. “They made sure that public places such as schools, clinics, municipal offices, etc., had no less than 200 Mbps connectivity before rolling out any services.”
And this then gave rise to what we in SA called the “bridging the digital divide” programme, which in all respects took off with great momentum in that some buildings, such as Home Affairs, are starting to pick up high broadband speeds.
After securing buy-in locally, he negotiated directly with Korean counterparts who shared their government architecture documentation freely with him and sent 14 developers over for training.
This ultimately helped shape local smart ID rollouts via partnerships with banks like FNB and Absa, whose branches were better connected than many government sites. “It worked because we knew banks had reliable connectivity and we needed that stability,” he adds.
Closing the implementation gap
Despite these successes though, Pandelani remains candid about persistent gaps between vision and execution within South African ICT ecosystems. “When it comes to policies, we are far more advanced than many other countries,” he admits. “But what we lack is implementation, and doing the basics!”
He cited poor broadband speeds still found inside Home Affairs offices as evidence. At the time, Pandelani says, the offices had very slow broadband speeds. He felt that regulations lacked the power or authority to enforce its rules, making it ineffective. Rather, he suggested, South Africa should be placing obligations within telco licensing conditions – again like what South Korea did by making sure that schools and clinics are connected at much higher broadband speeds, 10 times more faster than what they were, at the very least, and that was a mandatory requirement imposed on network operators.
Another area that could help address this issue is skills development, and here too, Pandelani used unconventional methods rather than relying solely on outdated HR processes: “If I could headhunt top five students straight out of UCT, I would!” Pandelani laughs. “But public sector rules don’t make that easy…”
Instead, he’s forged partnerships – such as one with the University of Pretoria – focusing specifically on technicians holding N4/N5 diplomas, but limited exposure beyond fieldwork levels. “These guys are highly experienced and just need technical training to enhance their technical knowledge. So we designed custom programmes around them.”
“In my environment, I emphasise ongoing learning hugely,” Pandelani explains. From cybersecurity upskilling programmes through AI-readiness bootcamps, his goal remains constant: “Let’s identify weaknesses – then work together until people grow past them.”
Reading widely, thinking deeply
Outside work hours, you’ll likely find Pandelani immersed in books, with topics ranging wildly, depending on phase-of-life interests: “There was a time I’d read five books per month,” says Pandelani proudly. “That included international business titles during my MBL days. Then finance books like Options Futures & Derivatives.”
Later came sports psychology literature tied closely with his early years of playing soccer during his youth. “I’m reading a book on electromagnetism and magnetic levitation technologies used in high speed trains now...” he smiled before adding, “…and antenna design books focused on upcoming 6G networks – even though we're not fully there yet!”
Military history features prominently, too. “I enjoy The Art Of War… It helps navigate complex environments – it applies surprisingly well inside large organisations.”
Pandelani stays active physically, too. “I play golf – it keeps me sharp.” Daily gym sessions have also become part of his routine following the Covid-19 pandemic. “That taught me the importance of cardio exercise, for breathing strength primarily, but mental clarity too.”
Family hiking trips to places like Cape Town, or further afield adventures across Tanzania remain favourites, “Tanzania really stood out, the culture, the language. You hear Zulu words inside Kiswahili if you listen closely.”
