Mabandla to chair Vodacom Group

The Vodacom Group has appointed Adv Oyama Mabandla as its new non-executive chairperson. The three-year contract is effective from 1 January 2006 and Mabandla will replace Vodacom's chairperson of six years, Wendy Luhabe.

11 Jan 2006

Alan Knott-Craig, Group Chief Executive Officer, says: "Vodacom is fortunate to secure the chairmanship of Adv Mabandla. He is a highly respected South African business leader and we look forward to benefiting from his strategic commercial experience."

Mabandla is executive chairman of the Langa Group, a corporate investment company. He was acting chief executive officer of South African Airways until October 2004 after joining the airline as operational head of its legal department in 2000.

Knott-Craig says Luhabe was the only chairperson of Vodacom who has served two terms: "During this time Vodacom expanded its African operations to Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique. Under her chairmanship Vodacom's total African customer base grew from 3 million in 2000 to over 21 million by the end of 2005. It has been both a pleasure and an honour to work with Wendy."