The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa has announced the appointment of IT expert Unathi Thosago as its new CIO, effective January 2026.
Unathi Thosago brings more than 20 years of experience across the financial services, pharmaceutical, agricultural and insurance IT sectors. Her appointment forms part of Parliament’s broader strategy to strengthen cybersecurity resilience, modernise digital platforms and improve public trust in the institution through secure, accessible technology.
Before joining Parliament, Unathi served as service and client technology executive at Old Mutual, where she led large-scale technology transformation initiatives focused on operational resilience, client enablement and enterprise service optimisation. Her career includes senior leadership roles at Adcorp Group, Rand Mutual and Transnet, spanning infrastructure modernisation, digital transformation and enterprise systems integration.
In her new role, Unathi has been tasked with repositioning Parliament’s digital environment from a back-office support function into a strategic platform for legislative enablement, transparency and citizen engagement. This includes strengthening cyber defences, modernising core parliamentary systems and expanding digital access to parliamentary processes.
“The task ahead is about building a digital Parliament that is both impenetrably secure and intuitively open,” Unathi says. “We have the opportunity to architect systems that empower lawmakers, safeguard the integrity of the legislative process and enable meaningful public participation. Technology must serve not only efficiency, but accountability and trust.”
A strong advocate for continuous learning and leadership development, Unathi holds an MBA and a postgraduate diploma in business administration and management from GIBS Business School, and has completed an executive development programme from Wits Business School.
Her appointment comes at a critical time as Parliament accelerates its digital transformation agenda in response to rising cyber threats, evolving public expectations and the need for more resilient, transparent and citizen-centric governance systems.
