Charles Molapisi is stepping down as CEO of MTN South Africa and is being replaced in the role by Ferdi Moolman, who was a key driver behind the telecommunications group’s growth in Nigeria, where he was CEO between 2016 and 2021.
At the same time, Yolanda Cuba, currently MTN Group’s vice president for Southern and East Africa, will step down from the group executive committee to become deputy CEO and executive director of MTN South Africa.
“Both Ferdi and Yolanda bring extensive group-wide experience and will collaborate to accelerate growth and maximise returns in MTN South Africa,” it added.
Molapisi was appointed as MTN South Africa CEO in 2022, replacing Godfrey Motsa. Molapisi has a “strong background in network and IT and will remain on the group exco, taking up his previous role as group chief technology and information officer”.
“He will have additional responsibilities and focus on speeding up AI use case adoption and infusion across the business. We see a significant value-creation opportunity over the medium term in the leveraging of AI across the business in domains such as network, customer operations and workforce productivity.”
Moolman, who has continued to serve as a member of the board of MTN Nigeria, will resign from that board to focus on the South African business.
At the same time, MTN said that ahead of the upcoming retirement of MTN South Africa chairman Mike Harper next year, the company has been “implementing measures to ensure a smooth and structured transition to the entity’s board leadership”.
“In this context, we are pleased to announce that Sindisiwe (Sindi) Mabaso-Koyana will succeed Mike as the new chairperson of MTN South Africa in the first quarter of 2026,” it said. Harper has been the company’s chairman since 2016.
MTN has announced a number of other management changes:
- Tsholofelo Molefe, the group chief financial officer, will have her responsibilities expanded to incorporate the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) portfolio. Kholekile Ndamase, currently chief M&A and business development officer, will step down from the group exco and have a new reporting line to Tsholofelo.
- Ismail Jaroudi, currently vice president of the Middle East and North Africa, will step down from the group exco and assume the role of VP of special projects in the office of group president and CEO Ralph Mupita, focused on portfolio optimisation initiatives. He will also continue his role as CEO of MTN Dubai.
- Ebenezer Asante, currently senior vice president of markets, will focus on accelerating the growth and the contributions of the operations in Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, South Sudan, Sudan, Liberia, and the joint ventures in Eswatini and Botswana. He will take on this revised role as vice president of Ghana, Southern and East Africa (SEA), taking over portfolio responsibilities from Cuba.
- In addition to his responsibilities as CEO of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola will take on additional responsibilities as vice president of Francophone Africa, with a focus on growing the market shares of operations in these markets.
- Mazen Mroué, currently group chief technology and information officer and CEO of Digital Infrastructure, is stepping down from the GCTIO role and will prioritise the expansion of MTN’s fibre and data centre businesses across Africa. As additional focus areas, he will work strategically with tower company partners, as well as lead network sharing opportunities across our operations to drive efficiencies. Mroué will lead the group’s partnerships with non-terrestrial networks such as low-Earth orbit satellite operators.
- Selorm Adadevoh, group chief commercial officer, will take on expanded responsibilities to include strategy and transformation.
- Chika Ekeji, chief strategy and transformation officer, will step down from the group exco to focus on accelerating the growth of some of the emerging businesses aligned to the platform strategy.
- Paul Norman, group chief HR officer, will retire at the end of 2026, with his successor expected to be appointed by mid-2026.
“These leadership changes will support accelerated execution of our strategy and value creation over the medium term,” MTN said.
“These leadership changes illustrate the depth of talent and experience we have across the group,” said Mupita. “The changes will support the accelerated execution of our strategy beyond 2025 as well as greater value creation for stakeholders over the medium term.”
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