Assistant Director:CHIEF NETWORK ENGINEER
PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT W.CAPE
Total years of experience :36 years, 5 Months
• Oct 2005-Jan 2020 Dept of Premier W.Cape (CEI-Health & Soc.Dev)Cape Town, RSA
Chief Network Engineer
In 2005 he joined the WCG (Western Cape Government), as Chief Network Technologist (CNT) and was immediately tasked to advise and lead the network infrastructure project for the roll out of HIS (Health Information System) at all the major health facilities within the Province, having more than 20 technical professionals and administrative personnel, reporting to him. He also assisted with the roll out of infrastructure and services for FPS (Forensic Pathology Services) unit, across the Western Cape. Specifically, he was seconded as an advisor of the renewal health network infrastructure on the West Region (WCHIR Project) in the period 2008-2010. As the only (CNT), serving the Health & Social Development Departments during this time, he was also charged with overseeing the relationship with external vendors and supply chain management. He was also a Steering Committee member of the Dept. Social Development’s Modernization Project during the same period.
The internal client (Dept. Social Development) used to regularly call on Yusuf’s expertise for advice and to actually perform the duties of a TECHNOLOGY or SERVICES Manager, as the DoTP-HSD, were not sufficiently capacitated at the time. Hence, Yusuf was an integral knowledge facilitator in this regard, due to his extensive exposure to different technologies within the specific environment and in so doing, empowering his clients to make better and informed decisions. Due to a lack of capacity within the component at the time and growth of our client base, he was also performing much of the operational functions within the service unit. He also performed duties as the ACTING DEPUTY DIRECTOR/ TECHNOLOGY MANAGER and SERVICES MANAGER for the component, when the current official/s went on leave and/or training.
Yusuf also played a lead role as a technical advisor for the SDIMS (Social Development Information Management System/s) Roll-out Project and Bulk Roll-out Project of end-user equipment for Dept. Social Development. He was also the technical support official for the VEP (Victim Empowerment Project), that was spearheaded by the NATIONAL DEPT. of JUSTICE & DEPT. of SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT.
Yusuf served on 2 Change Approval Boards (CAB) for the Dept. of Premier(W.Cape) and provided support and technical services to Health & Social Development Cluster (HSD), since 2005 till Jan 2020, when he left the public service, to join an existing family business with his brother. Due to the Covid-19 crisis that ensued later in 2020/2021, the family business could not fully sustain the entire families and hence he is seeking an opportunity to impart his wealth of knowledge and IP, (intellectual property) in the public sector and CRM environment, to an organization willing to make him part of their team.
SEE Attch'd resume for more details
Then in 1998-99, he joined MWEB at the start of the internet boom in South Africa. Much of his past and current knowledge base was enhanced during this exposure to the WAN landscape within ICT. His first major success was identifying a huge discrepancy in TELKOM/MWEB accounting system, which lead to an overall 65-70% saving on MWEB’s Telkom bill (+/-R35million). We were at forefront of technical innovation, when the internet boom hit South Africa and the sub-continent. Further highlights during time include the establishment of more than 60 POPs (Point of Presence), around South Africa and neighbouring countries, where MWEB subscribers would then dial in, through a modem via Telkom analogue line to access the internet, and also the Project Lead for WAN Satellite connectivity for MWEB South Africa, via UUNET and OrbLynx, Global Internet in the USA. In the new century 2000, he was promoted to manage to NOC - (network operations centre of MWEB). He was also part of the team that setup the new in-house MWEB Call Centre/s when the company moved from their Tygervalley buildings to the new N1 - Parow premises.
Responsibilities include the planning, designing and commissioning of a reliable routed and switched network, performing network management tasks, network element installations, high level network fault acceptance and service configurations, so as to offer a reliable service as promoted by M-Web. Other responsibilities included implementing Network management and Project Planning/Management of the above networks.
Network Systems Administrator/Trainer(1994-1996)
Manage Novell Network(3.12/4.10)- 300 users
Voted & Appointed Floor Safety Officer by colleagues.
Support &Train new staff on various Microsoft & Lotus products
Manage & Operate Wang mainframe
Manage & Operate Digital mainframe(new when company upgraded to new network infrastructure(fibre optics, routers&bridges)
Involved in the installation of above.(DEC-7000)
Trouble-shoot workstations and third party software.
Install new equipment(computers, modems, network-backbones) at peripheral sites.
Manage & Monitor Diginet, Frame Relay & ATM communications for various sites from central office.
1988-1992 Crown Mills(PTY)Ltd City Deep-JHB, RSA
Computer Operations Controller(1988-1989)
Manage & Operate NCR-Mainframe-250 users
Run Month-End /Daily audits for management(Sales/Inventory)
1988-1992 Crown Mills(PTY)Ltd City Deep-JHB, RSA
Computer Operations Controller Spice-Division(1989-1992)
Manage & Operate new Ollivetti-Lan based system running UNIX
Run Month-End /Daily audits for management(Sales/Inventory)
Manage /supervise factory staff(45) and 5 data capturing females.
1981-1987 Automated Clearing Bureau Cape Town, RSA
Computer Operations Clerk(1981-1983)
Balancing & Reconciliation of financial, banking accounts
Operate Burroughs Mainframe(3800-3900)
Handling Magtapes & micro-fiche
General Computer Batch processing opertions, tasks.
Promoted to Senior-Computer Operations Clerk(1983-1987)