Pieter Uys resigns as CEO of Vodacom Group

Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys will step down from the company at the end of August 2012 and will be succeeded by former Vodacom SA MD Shameel Joosub. Uys will stay on at Vodacom until the end of March 2013 in order to assist in the handover process.

Uys has spent almost 20 years at Vodacom, including four as CEO, a position he took up in 2008. He took over from Vodacom’s first CEO, Alan Knott Craig, who moved to Cell C earlier this year after a brief retirement.

In a statement, Uys said: “I have had a fantastic two decades with Vodacom and will cherish many happy memories. I’m hugely proud of our people: together, we have created a powerful and trusted brand at the centre of our customers’ daily lives. It’s now time for change, and I will leave Vodacom confident that the business will prosper under Shameel’s leadership.”

Joosub is currently the CEO of Vodafone Spain. He was previously MD of Vodacom SA and a director of the Vodacom board between 2000 and 2010 before moving to Spain. He will take up his new position on September 1.

Uys will join the management team of Stellenbosch-based investment firm Remgro in April 2013 on a full-time basis, also joining the company’s board of directors.

Remgro, which emerged from Rembrandt — the tobacco and industrial conglomerate founded by Anton Rupert — was, through VenFin, one of the early investors in Vodacom. It sold its stake in the mobile operator to the UK’s Vodafone in 2006.

It continues to be a significant investor in the technology sector, with stakes in Seacom, Dimension Data subsidiary Britehouse, Dark Fibre Africa investor Community Investment Ventures, and Chinese advertising network VisionChina.