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available given that they already serve within MCOM. Numfundo Kunene is female and as
such more preferred from an Affirmative Action standpoint than say Mtelo Myati, the other

internal candidate. She is an articulate leader and seen as a go getter with impeccable
performance orientation which combines to give her some unique strengths in the
'Transformation and performance' KRA. Her background is more in TV broadcasting and more

so in the public sector with a performance culture which is less stringent compared to the private
sector listed multinational-type entity, that is MCOM. This means she may struggle in the
'Modeling and setting the company's culture' KRA. But again, she is currently the MCOM Group

COO and seems to be delivering some good results given her 'impeccable performance
orientation' so she is likely to most feel de-motivated if bypassed for say Johan, an external

candidate. Her strong operational focus however may mean her strategic thinking and big
picture skills may not be as sharp as that of Johan Van Rensberg. This weakness seems to be
a strength for Mtelo Myali who is described as a Strategic and Operationally savvy leader with

superb master planning skills. His strategic and operational orientation makes him a strong
candidate in the 'Setting Strategy and direction' KRA as well as in the 'Transformation and
performance' KRA. Mtelo Myati has been CEO of MCOM's second largest operation after

Nakolia since 2011. His strong technology background appears to have served MCOM very
well. The nature and speed of change in the technology sector is similar to that of the mobile
telecommunications sector so his depth in the fast-paced culture of the technology sector (as a

previous IBM executive) and in our mobile telecommunication sector should be stronger; he
therefore emerges as a better internal candidate than Nomfundo Kunene. The choice therefore

is really between Johan Van Rensberg and Mtelo Myati.

RECOMMENDATION

The Board should appoint Johan Van Rensberg. MCOM is faced with too many problems and
needs a creative problem solver with a fresh perspective to help the company reshape its

direction. Johan is the only candidate with the banking experience that will be vital for this
purpose as MCOM sees the future growth coming mainly from mobile payments and financial
services. Furthermore, there is a burning need to identify and build a team of talented

executives to not only replace those who have been forced to resign in the wake of the fine but
to build a team for the future. Johan has these unique attributes ('talent management skills')

which when combined with the lessons we could benefit from our biggest competitor; V-Mobile,
and his experience both in Africa and Europe, we have an executive with a sharpened world
view that can spot global patterns and channel the company more effectively compared to the

other three executives who have largely been operating mainly in Africa.

Developed by The CharterQuest Institute for 'The CFO Case Study Competition 2016'
www.charterquest.co.za | Email: thecfo@charterquest.co.za