South African executive Khumo Shuenyane to succeed Saki Macozoma as Vodacom chairman in 2027

South African executive Khumo Shuenyane has been appointed to succeed Saki Macozoma as chairman of Vodacom Group, with the leadership change taking effect in July 2027. Macozoma will retire from the company’s board after a decade of service, while Shuenyane, currently Vodacom’s lead independent director, will assume the chairmanship the following day.

Vodacom said Macozoma will retire and step down from the board at the company’s annual general meeting on July 20, 2027. Shuenyane will assume the chairmanship on July 21, 2027. The planned transition follows Vodacom’s self-imposed 10-year tenure for board members.

Macozoma joined Vodacom’s board in July 2017 and has chaired the company through the implementation of its Vision 2025 strategy and the development of its Vision 2030 plan. The board thanked him for his leadership and contribution to the company over the past decade and wished him well in his future work.

Shuenyane takes boardroom experience forward

Shuenyane brings extensive experience in telecommunications, investment banking and corporate finance to the role. He currently serves as an independent non-executive director of Vodacom and sits on the boards of several companies within the Investec group, including Investec, Investec Plc, Investec Bank, where he is chairman, and Investec Property Fund.

His career includes senior roles at MTN Group, Investec Bank and Delta Partners. From 2007 to 2013, Shuenyane was MTN Group’s chief mergers and acquisitions officer and a member of the company’s group executive committee. He later spent six years at Dubai-based advisory firm Delta Partners, where he worked across the telecommunications, media and technology.

Before joining MTN, Shuenyane spent nine years at Investec Bank, including three years as head of principal investments and earlier work in the bank’s corporate finance team. He began his career at Arthur Andersen in Birmingham, U.K., and Johannesburg in 1992 and qualified as a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in 1995.

From Parliament to South Africa’s boardrooms

Macozoma leaves the Vodacom board with a long record in South African business and public life. He spent five years imprisoned on Robben Island during his youth before entering Parliament in 1994, beginning a career that later took him into senior executive and boardroom positions across several major companies.

From 1993 to 1994, Macozoma was a business development manager at South African Breweries before becoming a member of South Africa’s Parliament in 1994. He left Parliament in 1996 and later became managing director of Transnet, which at the time operated the country’s rail network, harbours and South African Airways.

In 2001, Macozoma joined New African Investments Ltd., a publicly listed investment company, as chief executive officer, a position he held until 2004. His boardroom roles have included chairman of MTN Group, Liberty Holdings and the Council of Wits University, as well as deputy chairman of Standard Bank Group.

He has also served as a non-executive director of Murray & Roberts Holdings and remains on the board of Mondi. His business interests have continued alongside his corporate roles. Earlier this year, Macozoma’s investment company, Ntsimbintle Holdings, completed the sale of a portfolio of manganese assets to Exxaro Resources for $723 million.