Management shake-up at Vodacom
Vodacom has moved quickly to fill the posts left vacant by the recent departures of senior executives Peter Matlare and Nku Nyembezi-Heita.
But, instead of appointing two people to replace them, it has merged the posts into a single portfolio to be headed by Niezaam Davids (pictured at left), who has worked at Vodacom since 2001. Davids’ new portfolio — his official title is chief officer for strategy, mergers & acquisitions — includes responsibility for overseeing Vodacom’s pending multibillion-rand empowerment deal.
He takes over the duties of former strategy head Matlare, appointed CEO at Tiger Brands, and mergers & acquisitions chief Nyembezi-Heita, now heading steel giant ArcelorMittal SA.
Davids, who joined Vodacom in January 2001, takes on the role at a critical time. Telkom is reviewing its mobile interests, which could see it disposing of its 50% stake in the cellphone group, paving the way for the UK’s Vodafone, Vodacom’s other shareholder, to take a majority stake in the business.
Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin has repeatedly stated that the UK-headquartered cellphone giant is keen to increase its stake in Vodacom, which is SA’s largest cellular network operator.
In the past few years, Davids has contributed to the formulation and implementation of group strategy at Vodacom. In particular he was responsible for the execution of mergers and acquisitions. He has been involved in Vodacom’s expansion in Africa, the horizontal expansion of its SA business and its recent empowerment initiatives.
Before Vodacom, Davids was with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
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