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Media Statement, 23 October 2014 New Presidency Chief Operations Officer The Presidency has pleasure to announce the appointment of Ms Lakela Kaunda as Chief Operations Officer (COO), with effect from 1 November 2014. The Chief Operations Officer is the accounting officer in the Presidency and is also responsible for strategy, operations and performance. The post was established to free the Director-General to concentrate on other key responsibilities including political support to the President and Deputy President as well as his responsibilities as Secretary of Cabinet, Chancellor of National Orders and chairperson of the Forum of South African Directors-General. Ms Kaunda has served as the Deputy Director-General and Head of the Private Office of the President since 2009. She is a seasoned executive with more than 20 years' experience in government and the media. Ms Kaunda holds a Master's degree in South African Politics and Political Economy from the University of Port Elizabeth, a BA Honours in Politics from Unisa, a Bachelor of Journalism and Media Studies from Rhodes University and a Post-Graduate Diploma in World Politics, from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has previously served as the spokesperson of the Deputy President of the Republic, as head of communications and later special advisor on communications to the Minister of Social Development, as director of communications for the Department of Communications and as public relations officer to the MEC for Economic Affairs and Tourism in KwaZulu-Natal. She has also worked for the African National Congress as manager in the Office of the President. Her media career has included serving as editor of the Evening Post in Port Elizabeth and as assistant editor, deputy news editor and political reporter for the Natal Witness and Echo newspapers in Pietermaritzburg. Ms Kaunda is also a former chairperson of the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF). The Director-General in the Presidency, Dr Cassius Lubisi has wished Ms Kaunda well in her appointment. "We look forward to working with Ms Kaunda in this new portfolio. She has done very well as head of the President's office and has ensured efficiency and effectiveness in the performance of the office. We are convinced that she will acquit herself equally well in heading the administration in the much bigger Presidency establishment," said Dr Lubisi. Issued by: The Presidency, Pretoria Enquiries: Mac Maharaj on 079 879 3203 or [email protected] -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
