Rabelani Dagada

Prof. Rabelani Dagada, PhD is a South African Author, Associate Professor, Development Economist, and politician based in Johannesburg. He is also a Policy Fellow at the South African Institute of Race Relations (IRR), and his academic career spans four South African universities; these include the Wits Business School, University of Johannesburg, University of South Africa, and Vaal University of Technology. Prof. Dagada research focus areas include Information and Communications Technology, manufacturing and agriculture.

In 2014, Dagada became a municipal councillor for the main opposition Democratic Alliance at the City of Johannesburg.^[1] Following the opposition victory in the 2016 local elections, he was appointed mayoral committee member (MMC) for finance in the new city government.^[2]

Early life

Dagada was born in Alexandra Township, Johannesburg, South Africa on 23 July 1971, but spent most of his childhood and youth in Venda, Limpopo province.^[3] Dagada holds a Masters of Education in Computer-based Education from the Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit, a Masters of Commerce in Information Systems from the University of the Witwatersrand and PhD in Information Systems from the University of South Africa. Dagada obtained a Certificate in Online Education & Training from the UCL Institute of Education.

Professional Profile

Dagada holds positions in politics, academia, private sector, and non-profit organisations. He founded several social entrepreneurial ventures and chairs their Boards of Trustees. He also chairs the Board of Directors of several profit and non-profit organisations.

Awards and Honors

In December 1998 Dagada obtained a Further Diploma in Education (Computer Based Education) with distinction (Cum Laude) from the Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit. Few years later, he was given a special permission to study two master's degrees simultaneously in two universities (Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit &University of the Witwatersrand), and he successfully completed them. Dagada has successfully implemented various Information & Communications Technology (ICT) projects. These include Enterprise Resources Planning Systems, Records Management Systems, Contract Management Systems, Microsoft Exchange, Wireless Broadband Network, and eLearning systems. Dagada is the inaugural Winner of 2008 ICT Visionary Award.^[4] He received the Award "in recognition of foresight and achievement in transforming business by adopting and implementing leading-edge technology". The award was presented on the 05th November 2008 by the Institute of Information Technology Professionals (IITPSA) in association with ITWeb, The Gordon Institute of Business Science and Gartner Africa.

In 2009, he presented a paper entitled: "Legal and policy aspects to consider when providing information security in the corporate environment", at School of Computing 2009 Post-Graduate Symposium. University of South Africa, 14 September 2009. This paper was rated as the best doctoral study presentation. A search in Google Scholar reveal Dagada's work has been cited extensively by other scholars.

On 12 November 2015, Dagada was presented with the IITPSA Fellowship award in recognition for his "extraordinary contribution to the Institute and the ICT profession through selfless service by bestowing the honour of being a Fellow of the Institute".

Thought Leadership

Dagada has published opinion pieces in various South African newspapers and popular publications such as The Star, Sowetan, Sunday Independent, City Press, Business Day, ITWeb, Financial Mail, and Focus (journal of the Helen Suzman Foundation). His views have featured in leading ICT magazines such iWeek and Brainstorm. Dagada has featured in programmes of leading talk radios in South Africa, Radio 702 and SAFM. He is also a public speaker and has participated in more than 30 local and international conferences.

Politics

Dagada was on the list of parliamentary candidates for the Democratic Alliance, South Africa's largest opposition party, ahead of the 2014 general elections, but did not make the cut. Instead he was elected to the Johannesburg City Council as a PR councillor for the DA in June the same year.

Dagada was interviewed by a Democratic Alliance panel on January 15th 2016, as one of two final candidates to stand as the party's City of Johannesburg Mayoral Candidate for the 2016 local government elections. Businessman and Black Like Me founder Herman Mashaba was the other candidate interviewed by the panel and was announced as the preferred candidate by the party on January 16th 2016.^[5] When the opposition parties won the election, however, Dagada was given a prominent position as MMC of finance in the new city government by the new mayor Mashaba. The African National Congress, which previously governed the city, criticised his appointment, citing Dagada's views on Israel and membership of AfriForum.^[6]

Books and book chapters

• DAGADA, R. 2009. Time, Space and Pace: Computer-Integrated Education in Corporate South Africa.^[7] Pretoria: Unisa.
• DAGADA, R. MUKWEVHO, S. & SCHOFIELD, A. 2011. Telecommunication Revolution in a Developmental State: South Africa Becomes and ICT Phenomenon.^[8] New York City: Raider Publishing International.
• DAGADA, R & CARMICHAEL, T. 2011. The impact of the South African Information and Communications Technology policy to entrepreneurship. Technopreneurship (Boris Urban, Ed.)^[9] Cape Town: Pearson
• CHIGONA, A. & DAGADA, R. (2012). Academics' ICT Capabilities in a New Educational Paradigm in Developing Countries: A Capability Approach.^[10] In: Patel, K.K. and Vij, S. Enterprise Resource Planning Models for the Education Sector: Applications and Methodologies Hershey: IGI Global

References