JOHANNESBURG - Vodacom has appointed politician-turned veteran businessman Saki Macozoma as its board chairperson.
The telecoms group said Macozoma would replace outgoing chairperson and former deputy finance minister Jabu Moleketi who is scheduled to step down in July.
“The Board expresses its thanks to Jabu for his leadership and valuable contribution to both the Board and Vodacom over the past 11 years and wishes him much success with his future endeavors,” the company said.
Moleketi was deputy fnance minnister from 2004 to 2008 and was also chairman of the Public Investment Corporation.
The company said that Macozoma, who is a current lead independent non-executive director, was first appointed to the board of Vodacom group in July 2017.
Macozoma, who spent five years in prison alongside late president Nelson Mandela on Robben Island, is a veteran executive and chairs Tshipi é Ntle Manganese Mining,
international investment house Safika Holdings and Ntsimbintle Mining. He is also a director of Volkswagen South Africa.
He formerly chaired Liberty Life Holdings and Credit Suisse Standard Security.
Macozoma was also the deputy chairman of the Standard Bank board and president of Business Leadership South Africa.
He also had a stint as the president's Big Business Working Group and former co-chairman of the Business Trust.
Macozoma’s appointment to the Vodacom board comes as the telecommunications industry awaits the auction of spectrum to improve communication.
Vodacom earlier this month announced the slashing of its 30-day bundles up to 40 percent in the next two years.
The group said it would reduce its 1GB of data valid for 30 days by 34 percent to R99 from R149 on all channels as from next Wednesday and would provide further discounts on all 30-day bundles while further decreases would be implemented next April.
Vodacom said the slashing of data would put R2.7 billion back in the hands of cash strapped consumers, after reaching an agreement with the Competition Commission.
The commission’s Data Market Inquiry released in December found that MTN and Vodacom data prices in South Africa’s data prices were excessive compared to their markets elsewhere in Africa. The commission recommended that MTN and Vodacom substantially reduce tariff levels, especially prepaid monthly bundles within two months of the release
of the report.
It also said evidence suggested that there was scope for MTN and Vodacom to reduce prices in the region of between 30 percent and 50 percent.
Vodacom said it would extend its zero-rating offerings to schools, universities, and technical and vocational educational Training (TVET) colleges where students will be able to access relevant information for free via their portals.