MultiChoice appoints new South Africa CEO in leadership shakeup

Pay-TV operator, MultiChoice has made a raft of changes to its executive team that will strengthen its strong position across the continent.

The group announced that Nyiko Shiburi, currently regional director of MultiChoice Africa’s southern region, has been appointed the new CEO of MultiChoice SA. He replaces Mark Rayner, who resigned in September after 14 years at the company.

“Nyiko is an extremely experienced leader and has successfully navigated the complexity of multiple territories and businesses, working with deeply skilled teams within the organisation as well as a multitude of stakeholders in our ecosystem,” said MultiChoice Group CEO, Calvo Mawela.

Simon Camerer, currently chief customer officer, has been been appointed COO for the SA unit.

The group’s chief people officer, Fhulufhelo Badugela, takes over from Nyiko as regional director. Clement O’Reilly, who is presently head of Total Reward and operations at MultiChoice Africa, will take on Badugela’s role.

SuperSport CEO Gideon Khobane will take up the position of group executive for general entertainment. Marc Jury, head of acquisitions and marketing at SuperSport, has been promoted to CEO of the sports broadcasting operation.

M-Net CEO Nkateko Mabaso, will now oversee all commissioning for the group, as the executive for programming.

The company said all the changes, set to come into effect on December, 1, will consolidate its “strong focus” on ensuring its position as Africa’s number one video entertainment company, with customers at the heart of everything.

The group has celebrated its first full year on the JSE, having left the Naspers nest in 2019, signed deals with streaming giants Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, brought ESPN back to DStv, launched a new streaming service called Showmax Pro, become the sponsor of the local Premiere Soccer League and had French broadcaster, Canal+ become a major shareholder.

Mawela, said “to gear up for an exciting future and optimise our performance, we need to continually innovate, transform and reorganise ourselves structurally. I am proud that we have some of the best minds in our business to do this.”  (BusinessDay SA)