Driving His Future within the IT Arena and Beyond

People of Vox: Spotlight on Lunga Hoho

When you meet Desktop Support Technician Lunga Hoho, you realise very quickly that he’s a ‘People Person’, through and through. Lunga, who works at Vox Head Office in Joburg (but helps people remotely around the country), is one of the Vox IT support team members who’s there to help people at the drop of a hat when their computers are misbehaving. At the same time, he’s also highly skilled at putting the smiles back onto faces that were (at best) wearing a frown, and (at worst) spewing choice words into the surrounding atmosphere.

As you get to know Lunga, it also becomes apparent that he has an admirable self-driving philosophy (you’ll see why that’s a great pun a bit later in the article), which spurs him on to new challenges all the time. Lunga has been at Vox for around eight years now and has had an interesting career with us so far!

This, together with his People-Person outlook on life, meant he was top of mind when we were looking for the first person to interview for our new ‘People of Vox’ series of blog articles, in which we bring you the stories behind some of our less-well-known heroes.

Valuing His Culture   

Lunga values his Xhosa heritage

Lunga (short for Lungako) was born and raised in a small town in the Eastern Cape, where his Xhosa background became an integral part of shaping his personality and outlook on life. “What I truly appreciate about my culture,” he notes, “is its rich heritage with strong traditions, and its emphasis on love and respect for people.”

Both of his parents, as well as his sister, are schoolteachers. While he stands apart from his family members in pursuing a career outside the education arena, he shares their philosophy of being a life-long learner.

“Like the rest of my family”, he says, “I’ve always been around books and education, and I understand and appreciate its value. My mother says that ‘Inside every teacher is a school’ and her outlook has always inspired me to try to extend myself as much as I can.”

Crafting A Career Path 

Lunga joined Vox in mid-March 2017 on a 12-month contract basis, as part of an internship programme, where he worked as a Stores Assistant. Later that same year, on 1 August 2017, he became a driver for the company.

He outlines: “I was so happy because this was now a permanent position! I was a driver for about two years and then became a service engineer for Qwerti (then known as MIT Services) in August 2019, where I remained until 2023, when I finally joined the IT Support Team as a Desktop Technician, which is my current role.”

Learning and studying formed an integral part of Lunga’s journey from becoming a driver for the company to being part of the IT team. This studying took place through both internal and external courses. He first became interested in becoming part of an IT support team when he was a driver visiting Vox clients.

“I started studying by registering myself on Vox Academy – because Vox Partners with Microsoft – and began my initial learning that way. Through these early courses, I became aware of more possibilities, both internally and externally, and I got to a point where I was knowledgeable enough to apply to become a service engineer for Qwerti (MIT Services), and then, as I mentioned, into my present position.

“I would like to add that throughout my career at Vox, I’ve been so fortunate in working for great line managers, who always supported and encouraged me, including taking the next steps into the next position or opportunity. I want to be an inspiration for any new interns going forward, because I’ve had so many people within the organisation who have made time to help me on my own journey.”

A Natural Fit in the IT Department

Lunga says he feels blessed by the opportunity to become part of the IT Support Team, which plays such an important role within Vox.

He notes: “We protect the company’s data, secure its network, and seek ways to develop and improve our systems and IT infrastructure. I report to Sipho Sibanyoni, for whom I have great respect and admiration as an excellent manager, and my job is to ensure that Vox employees have all their technical needs met, thus allowing them to perform their duties. This includes being able to access the necessary shared folders on the server, getting onto the VPN, accessing printers and other office devices, encrypting confidential information and managing network traffic.

“Everyone who contacts me seeking help – from across various Vox branches around the country – is a vital cog in the company, and so I cultivate a positive attitude towards my clients and performing my duties. I’m always happy when I can solve someone’s tech problem and leave them happier than when I first went on the call to help them – it’s always wonderful when you are part of a solution, and this is one of the reasons why I love my job so much.”

Lunga reiterates that, partly because of his cultural background, he feels a deep love for humanity. He adds: “The best moments for me at Vox have been my encounters with people – those moments when I assist someone are really what makes my heart tick. I don’t think about the computer as much as I think about the person behind the screen.”

Exploring New Horizons

But it’s not just IT and people that makes Lunga tick – he also enjoys travel, studies and sports. He clarifies: “I enjoy seeking knowledge and studying in general, and just finding out how to better myself. This year, I’ve enrolled at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) to study Communications, which has always interested me. I’m so excited about investing in myself further – there’s always room to learn more!”

As for the travel, Lunga adds: “At the end of the day, we are here to collect as many good memories as we possibly can, and I have some great travel aspirations. For example, in the future I would like to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and visit the Great Pyramid of Egypt, to add to my previous travels to Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique and the Mozambican Islands, as well as within South Africa itself. Further afield, I’d also like to visit Dagestan, in Russia, because one of my sports heroes, in Mixed Martial Arts, comes from there.”

Staying with sports, Lunga is usually one of the first to raise his hand when Vox, as a sponsor of the Golden Lions, is able to make free tickets available to staff members. More seriously, he clarifies: “My ultimate goal is to leave the world a little better than I found it. Working for Vox, because of its people-friendly and transparent, accessible culture, reminds me that behind all the professionalism I experience, I’m always dealing with human beings.

“I really enjoy working for a company that, besides being so innovative, also encourages such a great open-door policy, for employees as well as customers,” he concludes.