Romeo Kumalo has been promoted to a group position at Vodacom

Vodacom has confirmed it plans to announce executive changes next month. However the mobile operator says the changes will in no way affect jobs.

The group, majority-owned by the UK’s Vodafone, is in the process of rebranding and the structural changes at leadership level are likely an attempt to align with its parent.

Business Day reported on Tuesday that the Communication Workers Union expected the management shake-up to lead to job losses. However, Vodacom spokesman Richard Boorman says the internal changes will not have any impact on jobs.

He says the management changes were communicated to staff last week and include changes in the way senior staff report to the CEO. At least one of the changes includes a promotion for Vodacom SA’s executive commercial director Romeo Kumalo.

Kumalo, who was at one stage believed to be in the running for the leadership position at Telkom, will take up a similar position to his SA job, but at group level. He had previously been tipped as a possible replacement for Vodacom SA MD Shameel Joosub, who leaves the position next week to take up the CEO role at Vodafone’s Spanish subsidiary.

In February, Vodacom Group CEO Pieter Uys said the board was “diligently” looking for a candidate to fill Joosub’s post and was hoping to present a shortlist at the next board meeting.

However, Boorman says Vodacom cannot communicate any details on what progress it’s making in finding a successor.

Whoever takes over from Joosub will have big shoes to fill. He has been running Vodacom’s critical SA operation for the past five years and is well respected in the telecommunications industry.

Before taking the reins at Vodacom SA, Joosub was MD of the Vodacom Service Provider Company between 2000 and 2005. He joined Vodacom in March 1994, the same year the operator launched its first commercial services. — Staff reporter, TechCentral