Dear Members and Associates
On 23 March 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the escalation of measures that had been implemented 9 days earlier in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by declaring a nationwide lockdown to take effect from 26 March 2020. This will cause significant disruption to our daily lives and will severely impact the South African economy. Of course, this is not unique to South Africa and the entire world is following the path of taking exceptional action to combat the exceptional threat. IITPSA fully supports the actions announced by the State President.
Many of IITPSA’s members are engaged in enterprises that will fall into the “essential services” category, such as health, telecommunications, banking, government and transport and will continue to support their clients and users by whatever means necessary. Many others will work from home, subject to connectivity and appropriate devices.
IITPSA will continue to work in the interests of its members as a virtual organisation, effective 27 March 2020. Our staff are equipped to work from home and will carry out such tasks as are feasible in this mode. Please note, however, that IITPSA is not able to distribute documents to members and applicants until such time as we are able to have the office reopened (at this stage estimated to be at Level 2, or even Level 1 Lockdown) and when couriers are permitted to deliver such documents as per government regulations. A digital badge (PrivySeal) is available to all registered IITPSA members in good standing which will electronically confirm their membership status with IITPSA.
All our usual email addresses remain in use and we have set up a new contact number 087 655 1679 that will enable you to be connected to the appropriate staff member, during normal working hours. You can also find this and other information on our website (www.iitpsa.org.za), together with the latest news of our virtual events.
As we move into what promises to be one of the toughest periods in our history, your membership of the Institute is an important link to the network of ICT professionals that enables us to share ideas and identify solutions to the problems of managing this pandemic and its aftermath. Please engage with us as we work together on this enormous task.
Stay safe and take care.
Best regards
Tony Parry
CEO – ITPSA
