Vodacom Group CEO Pieter Uys is stepping down after almost two decades with the mobile operator. He will be replaced by Vodafone Spain CEO Shameel Joosub, who is a former MD of Vodacom SA. The appointment will take effect on 1 September to ensure a smooth transition and handover.
TechCentral had heard about the planned exit of Uys and appointment of Joosub to the Vodacom CEO position as early as May this year, but declined to publish an article at the time after both Uys and a Vodacom spokesman strongly denied that the changes were happening.
Joosub, who joined Vodacom shortly after its founding in 1994, was appointed to head the Vodafone operation in Spain in 2010. He has a bachelor of accounting science (honours) from Unisa and an MBA from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia.
Uys joined Vodacom in 1993. He took over as CEO following the departure of Alan Knott-Craig, who now heads Cell C. He oversaw the group’s listing on the JSE.
Uys, who will step down on 31 March 2013, joins a growing list of top executives who have quit the operator in the past two years, many of them to take on other roles within Vodafone.
Last year, both Joosub and chief financial officer Rob Shuter were appointed to senior positions within Vodafone. Shuter left to take the reins at Vodafone in The Netherlands. Then, last month, group chief operating officer Sipho Maseko stepped down with immediate effect to “pursue personal interests”. — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media