Puleng Kwele, the former CEO of state-owned telecommunications company Broadband Infraco, has passed away from Covid-19-induced pneumonia.

Kwele, who had just celebrated her 53rd birthday, died on Saturday evening in hospital. She is survived by her husband Lucky Kwele and their four children.

Well known in the telecommunications industry, Kwele was GM for carrier services at MTN South Africa before joining Broadband Infraco as chief marketing and sales officer in 2011.

She was named CEO of the business in 2012, a role she held for five years. During her time at the helm, she helped engineer a turnaround at the loss-making entity.

In 2019, she left Infraco to become country manager of Iron Mountain, a storage and information management company — a role she held until April 2021.

She was in the process of starting her own business, KK Investments, which was focused on providing life-coaching services, Lucky Kwele told TechCentral by phone on Wednesday.

Memorial service

A virtual memorial service in Kwele’s honour will be held on Thursday, from 4pm to 6pm. A funeral service, which will take place on Friday from 9am to 10am, will also be streamed online due to Covid-19 restrictions that place limits on attendance at funerals.