Every year, billions of transactions pass through the IT systems of South Africa’s central government as people pay taxes, apply for ID cards and passports, make claims for unemployment insurance, and conduct all the other myriad activities required of the modern citizen.
Behind much of the infrastructure powering these services is IT services provider Interfile, which was set up in 2003 to partner with the South African Revenue Authority (SARS) to deliver its nascent e-filing system and now supports the work of a number of government departments.
As a key intermediary between the government and citizens, there is a lot riding on Interfile’s operations – and on the shoulders of its CEO, Kennedy Chinganya FCCA, who took on the top role just over six months ago.
‘Customers haven’t always had much exposure to what good really looks like’
Though still settling in, Chinganya says he is ‘comfortable’ with how things are progressing. But he also sees significant scope to deepen existing relationships, pointing to an array of additional services Interfile could provide.
‘Customers trust Interfile enormously with what they’ve got,’ he says. ‘But my first six months have shown me that there hasn’t always been much exposure to what good really looks like. In many cases, they were content with what they had.
‘In the long term, we want to be the company that brings convenience to the people.’
IT savvy
After more than two decades in IT services, Chinganya is steeped in the sector. His career journey to date includes 13 years with IBM in South Africa as group chief accountant and treasurer, a three-year spell with mobile telephone network MTN and five years with the tech group Altron.
And then there were two periods with Microsoft, initially as business financial controller and later, prior to joining Interfile, as director and chief operations officer, with responsibility for people management and financial oversight.
Now Chinganya is bringing his ACCA qualification and this collective experience to bear at Interfile, leading an organisation deeply embedded inside government digital services.
‘You stay small, you go deep and create stickiness with the customer’
While finance is a priority – what CEO isn’t keeping track of the numbers, especially one with an accounting background – other matters are also on his mind. These include access to the right IT development talent, corporate culture, risk management and, of course, growing the business.
Growth takes place in a certain context, related to the strategy of its owner. In 2023, Interfile was acquired by Canadian software outfit Harris, which operates a very particular business model and strategy in relation to the companies in which it invests.
‘The Harris focus is on acquiring and running mission-critical software businesses that serve vertical markets, mainly in public sector and related industries – you stay small, you go deep and you create stickiness with the customer,’ Chinganya explains. While there is pressure to find opportunities, they must be the right ones. ‘You do not want to overgrow.’
Groundbreaking project
The opportunity to grow the business was one of the things that attracted Chinganya to the position of CEO. ‘Interfile is the company that established e-filing for the South African Revenue Authority. It was at the heart of this groundbreaking project for many years.
‘It’s a hidden secret that now needs to blossom and really show what it is capable of doing.’ For Chinganya, that means looking for what he calls ‘adjacent’ services to the existing business.
Being so deeply embedded with government means Interfile is less a service provider and more of a partner – a relationship that has implications, not least for the way the company views its stakeholders.
‘We need to be incorporating AI into everything we do’
Interfile’s singular position means it has access to vast quantities of data that can be exploited to advise on policy decisions and build new services, an area Chinganya is examining in detail. ‘We need to focus on product innovation and of course, as we go on, we need to be incorporating AI into everything we do.’
But there is an even bigger imperative for Interfile to keep improving its product offering – the threat of competition. Interfile, he says, cannot afford to be complacent. ‘The window is limited. To stay ahead, we need to keep on being very, very innovative.’
Client responsiveness
Alongside the need to innovate, Chinganya singles out responsiveness to the client’s ongoing needs as a priority risk factor that the business must also stay on top of. In this context, a smooth interface is critical. ‘If we wake up and find that citizens are not able to log on, we need to be able to tell the client very quickly what’s going on,’ he says.
That’s a lot to think about in the current era and in the context of governments everywhere struggling with their finances, but Chinganya remains optimistic. He says the private sector should be helping and partnering with government much more to improve revenue collection, especially in government municipalities.
‘If business and government can come together, there’s a lot that we can address as partners so that we start seeing some of these things turn around.’
CV
2025
CEO and executive VP, Interfile, a division of Harris, South Africa
2023
Director, sales enablement & operations (COO), Microsoft Africa, South Africa
2018
Finance director, Altron Africa, then managing director, Altron Nexus, South Africa
2015
General manager finance, MTN Enterprise, then MD and executive board member, MTN Business, Kenya
2010
Business financial controller, Microsoft South Africa
1996
Financial controller, later group chief accountant and treasurer, IBM, South Africa
