Wits CIO and proud farmer Dr Stanley Mpofu believes in building his team and giving back. His exceptional people and project leadership skills were recognised at the 2024 CIO Awards, where he took home the prestigious CIO of the Year and IT Project of the Year awards.
Three words can best describe Dr Stanley Mpofu, CIO at Wits: father, technologist and community builder. He is also a small-scale livestock and crop farmer and had a good yield of maize last year. “I’m anticipating a good yield in 2025 as well,” he says. “My goats, chickens and sheep have increased significantly, considering the size of my land, I’m happy with what it’s producing.”
Dr Mpofu is an academic and an IT leader but insists that if he decided to quit his job tomorrow, he’d make an excellent farmer – all he needs is more land.
“There’s a level of satisfaction that cannot be replicated in farming, you get to enjoy the fruits of your labour, and the food you consume has wonderful health benefits too!” he notes.
Then there’s the community builder – Dr Mpofu is a strong advocate of giving back, especially in the place that shapes who you are as an individual. As such, he managed to fulfil a passion project, completing a home build for a needy family back home. However, he is humble and tight-lipped about his other selfless endeavours that have uplifted his community, such as applying for electricity for the whole village.
CIO South Africa caught up with him during the middle of the registration rush at Wits – a crucial time for him to exercise a good work-life balance to cushion the influx of registrations. “I manage the stress by already having the right team on my side; competent professionals who can run things smoothly. A sign of a good leader is having people who can run a well-oiled machine when you’re not around,” he points out.
All about teamwork
“If you have the right team of competent direct reports in place, the rest is easy. It’s not the glory of the CIO but rather the glory of the people I work with!”
In true humble fashion, Dr Mpofu was quick to thank his team when he collected his two awards on 12 November 2024. “The accolades I received are not my prize alone, leadership is one aspect, but it all boils down to the people doing the work,” he says.
From a brand and user experience perspective, it is the customer's experience that matters, he believes. Dr Mpofu highlights that the reputation of an institution is very important and Wits’ reputation, as he pointed out, is unmatched.
“The reputation of an institution has an impact on the key stakeholders, the institution relies on sponsors and funders across the world and if its reputation is bad, there won’t be any appetite to prioritise Wits. As a CIO, I have the responsibility of protecting the institution’s reputation by ensuring that I have systems in place that work,” he says.
“Patchwork doesn’t help, you need to have systems in place that have passed stress testing. For example, test the system with a heavier than normal amount to assess how far it can be stretched and that should be a step in your project execution as a result of good planning.”
According to Dr Mpofu, Wits’ registration process is not rigid, online registration is one way of being efficient and is encouraged. However, for those who live in remote areas or don’t have access to the internet, they can visit the institution and use its one-stop-shop facilities, which are supported by IT and other relevant divisions in the university.
Smart classrooms and beyond
Dr Mpofu’s innovative idea for introducing smart classrooms to Wits and other related projects such as hospital connectivity, eduroam and online thesis submission saw him walking away with his IT project of the year accolade. However, he admits that his travels and fondness for reading played a huge role in inspiring the smart classroom project.
“I read quite a bit on technology and I also happen to connect with colleagues overseas often,” he explains. “When I travel, I’m not going for leisure, I go with a plan; attend specific sessions and meet specific people – that even extends to complaining about certain services if need be.”
There are even more exciting projects in the pipeline.
After Dr Mpofu and his team completed the smart classroom project, the next step was to create teaching venues that are modernised. Modernised in such a way that one could attend another lecturer while sitting in different venues in the campus. The project was called the lecture venue upgrade, which allowed technology to seamlessly facilitate hybrid learning.
“Imagine a class that needs 300 students, but the venue can only accommodate 200. The modernised teaching venues can now allow the remaining 100 students to attend the very same class in a different venue nearby, connected to the lecture virtually,” he explains.
Dr Mpofu and his team managed to roll out 10 of these classrooms and are aiming to roll out another 15 this year.
“There is another exciting eduroam [an international platform that allows students and lecturers internet access] project I had been working on which began in 2021,” he adds. “The project got off the ground very slowly with the City of Johannesburg then. I decided to introduce the concept to the Acsa CIO and within six months we implemented it in nine Acsa airports where eduroam SSID is now broadcast,” he says.
“It wasn’t until 2024 that I met the current City of Johannesburg CTO and I engaged with him about rolling out eduroam to libraries and in January 2025 the implementation was completed. Similar initiatives are at advanced stages with a company that owns some significant malls around the country.”
The target, he adds, is to have eduroam in the proximity of the most disadvantaged student so that the digital divide is addressed. Community halls, restaurants and fuel stations will be given special attention as will other places students frequent.
Films, technology and mentorship
A very ambitious target, but Dr Mpofu’s plan started small, and intends to gain momentum once the concept benefits are embedded in the minds of decision-makers on the rolling out of eduroam across the country municipalities. “I’m looking to engage with the CIO of the City of Tshwane and Ekhuruleni to roll out the eduroam platform there too, including the rest of the country,” he says.
The project began in the airports and made its way into the libraries, now he is targeting the malls and restaurants at fuel stations for students who are on the road, to submit while travelling. “If it works in one municipality, it should work in every other municipality, and so it goes to malls, too,” he points out. “If ACSA and CoJ did it, why can’t all malls, community halls and restaurants do it?”
On a different note, Dr Mpofu winds down by enjoying a good film and by looking for something to tickle his funnybone. He prefers watching cartoons with his children to lighten the mood.
However, there are some links to his day-to-day job and favourite films. For one, The Terminator was already exploring the concept of artificial intelligence way back in the 90s and according to Dr Mpofu, cartoons can also teach you a bit about technology. “Cartoons are my secret weapon to stay ahead of the technology curve,” he jokes.
You can put two of his favourite pastimes in front of him as a distraction – that’s film and technology, but nothing can remove him from his true calling of giving back and that’s through mentorship. He explains how best to get his attention.
“Nothing beats the right attitude,” he says. “I’ve also benefitted from mentorship programmes during my time with Eskom, including coaches as I climbed the executive ladder. It’s important to have a coach in the workspace because a coach focuses on your profession, whereas a mentor looks at all aspects of your life.”
He recalls the first time he arrived at Wits and was soon approached by people asking him to become their mentor. “Interestingly enough, these people were strangers to me, one gentleman and a lady who are now part of my mentee pool,” he notes.
“At Wits, two people asked me to mentor them and one later became a director at a different institution. An external mentee, who is a lady, is now a very well-known CIO. I also approach employees in my division so that they get mentors. In most cases I refer to established colleagues I know from the industry. Both female and male colleagues who have taken this opportunity seem to thrive in their profession and deliverables. Mentorship and coaching are cornerstones for young people to adopt so that they can help them climb the ladder with limited hurdles.”
