The CIO in the office of the North West premier, Thato Matsipe, unpacks how governance reform, IT centralisation and strategic industry collaboration are repositioning technology from a support function to a core enabler of provincial service delivery.
When Thato Matsipe speaks about technology, he does so in terms of outcomes, not abstractions. As CIO in the office of the premier of the North West provincial government, his focus is firmly on people, access and measurable impact. For him, technology only has value when it materially improves how citizens experience government.
It is this lens, practical, human-centred and quietly ambitious, that has come to define Thato’s leadership journey in government: one of the most complex technology environments imaginable.
Thato’s career in IT was not destined. In fact, his early ambitions lay elsewhere. Accounting, he recalls, was his first professional love. Coming from a commercial high school background, the path towards numbers and balance sheets seemed natural.
But when the time came to choose a field of study, a different opportunity presented itself. Information technology was emerging as a powerful, future-facing discipline and he took a calculated leap. “I thought maybe I should try this new thing,” he says, reflecting on that decision. “I never regretted it.”
Impact as the ultimate metric
Ask Thato what he enjoys most about his current role and his answer is immediate: impact.
Working in government, he believes, comes with a unique responsibility. It is easy for technology leaders to become absorbed in systems, uptime and infrastructure, but what matters more, he argues, is what those systems enable, and for whom.
For him, success is measured in moments when technology reduces friction in people’s lives: when citizens can access services more easily, engage more efficiently with the government, or avoid unnecessary travel, delays and paperwork. “Most of the time we focus on what we are doing,” he says. “We don’t always think about the impact on the people at the end.”
The challenges of public-sector IT are well documented: legacy systems, constrained budgets, cybersecurity risk and slow decision-making processes bound by regulation and governance.
When Thato stepped into his role, one challenge stood out starkly. The province’s digital transformation strategy, a foundational document, had been in draft form for nine years without approval.
Approving that strategy became one of his initial priorities. Within his first 100 days, he and his team pushed the strategy through development, presentation and approval, finally giving the province a formal roadmap for digital transformation spanning from 2025 to 2030.
But the document itself was only the beginning. “The real work,” he explains, “is implementation.”
From silos to “one province, one vision”
One of the most significant shifts under Thato’s leadership has been cultural. Historically, IT services across provincial departments operated in silos, duplicating effort and diluting impact.
Centralising IT under the office of the premier was a deliberate move, one designed to improve governance, achieve economies of scale and ensure alignment with provincial priorities.
This restructuring required careful change management. Long-standing ways of working had to be challenged and a new philosophy introduced: “one province, one vision”.
Breaking down silos, standardising infrastructure and modernising decades-old equipment have been foundational steps. He is candid about the difficulty of this work, noting that transformation requires patience, trust and consistent engagement. Culture, he believes, is often the hardest system to upgrade.
Governance as the cornerstone of sustainable change
With over two decades of experience in the IT industry, Thato says the biggest lesson he’s learnt in his career is the importance of governance, especially for fellow public sector CIOs.
Without clear governance structures, he argues, decision-making stalls and IT remains peripheral to strategy. One of his key interventions has been ensuring ICT representation at the executive level, making technology part of strategic conversations rather than an afterthought.
“When you discuss transformation without ICT at the table, you are already limiting what’s possible.”
By embedding technology leadership into executive forums, he has helped reposition IT as an integral contributor to policy, planning and delivery, a shift he believes is essential for sustainable transformation.
Thato has also been intentional about anchoring innovation in disciplined collaboration rather than experimentation for its own sake. Instead of innovating in isolation, the province has deliberately opened its doors to industry through structured forums, open days and working engagements. In a notable departure from public-sector convention, he and his team opened their internal AGM to industry participants to pressure-test their standard ways of working and identify blind spots.
This approach is mirrored internally, as Thato is intentional about involving staff at all levels in these engagements, recognising that exposure to different perspectives builds capability faster than formal training alone. It also shifts innovation from being a top-down directive and the responsibility of a few to a shared organisational discipline. An ecosystem in which people are trusted and enabled to learn and contribute meaningfully.
When asked about emerging technologies, Thato’s excitement is unmistakable, particularly around the potential of artificial intelligence in government service delivery.
“I see a future where we have AI-enabled platforms that guide citizens through processes such as applying for grants, registering businesses or accessing job opportunities, all done digitally from the comfort of your home,” he explains.
Technology, he believes, should compress time, reduce effort and restore dignity. “If someone can get an answer in a minute that used to take three days, that’s real transformation,” he says.
Leadership, faith and a life beyond the title
Beyond the office, Thato is refreshingly grounded. He speaks warmly about time spent travelling, playing golf, exploring different cultures and cuisines, and spending quality time with his family and loved ones.
He is also an ordained reverend in the United Reformed Church, a dimension of his life that deeply informs his sense of purpose. Mentorship, youth development and community involvement are not side projects; they are integral to how he defines leadership.
Influenced by Atomic Habits, renowned author James Clear’s widely cited work on behavioural change, Thato often reflects on the power of small, consistent improvements on all levels of his life.
He also applies this thinking to leadership and organisational transformation, believing that sustained progress is built through disciplined habits, embedded in daily decisions, operating models, and culture, rather than headline initiatives alone.
Thato defines a good life by how much impact he has had on the world around him. He shares that he wholeheartedly believes in developing people, creating opportunities for them, and leaving systems and individuals better than you found them.
“If someone can say they started as an intern and built a career because of what we created then I know I’ve lived a purposeful life,” he reflects.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Liezl MacLennan
Dieser Artikel ist neu veröffentlicht von / This article is republished from: CIO South Africa, 02.03.2026
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