Cell C, now headed by former Vodacom Group CEO Alan Knott-Craig, is hiring a number of past and present Vodacom executives to flesh out its management team. Three of Cell C’s top positions are to be filled in coming months.
Cell C has lured Vodacom Mozambique CEO Jose dos Santos to join it. Dos Santos has been with Vodacom since 2005 and resigned at the end of March.
Vodacom has confirmed that Dos Santos has resigned, but won’t comment on a rumoured restraint of trade that applies to him. He is said to be taking up the position of chief commercial officer at Cell C.
A Vodacom spokesman says a recruitment process to find a successor for Dos Santos is already underway and that Douglas Lubbe has been appointed to the Mozambique position on an interim basis until such time as the position can be filled permanently.
Lubbe formerly served as Vodacom Mozambique’s finance director but is currently based in Vodacom’s international office in SA.
Meanwhile, TechCentral understands that Cell C’s chief operating officer position is to be filled by Frikkie Vermeulen. Vermeulen had served in a similar role at Vodacom’s ill-fated Nigerian operation before the company was forced to leave the West African market.
Joe Brittz, who supplies services to Vodacom Mozambique as a contracted consultant, is said to be taking on the role of chief technical officer at Cell C.
Brittz has previously worked as a managing executive for Vodacom, the operator’s executive head of operations for its Gauteng and Eastern regions and in various engineering positions for the operator.
A Cell C spokesman confirms that all three are set to join the operator but cannot confirm their positions nor when they will start. — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media
