Mthunzi leaves CGCSA to join Massmart

According to Massmart CEO Grant Pattison, Mthunzi had a profoundly positive impact on the CGCSA during his two years at the helm of the organisation.

"We are delighted that someone of his stature has agreed to take on this exciting challenge. His key focus will be on the development of local manufacturers, emerging farmers and SME suppliers to the group and he will have R100 million fund to facilitate achievement of this mandate," said Pattison.

"During his time at the CGCSA, he has developed good insights into some of the challenges that emerging FMCG suppliers experience in accessing retail markets, making him a good choice for this supplier development role."

Whilst the specific activities of the fund still have to be finalised, initial interventions are likely to involve developing 1500 emerging farmers to supply the group's evolving fresh produce business, hosting local manufacturer fairs to promote potential Wal-Mart facilitated exports and identifying SMEs that can be scaled up to enable reliable supply to stores in the group. Wal-Mart has significant expertise in these areas, based on experience in Central America, India and China.

Before being made CEO of the CGCSA, he was the MD of the Black Management Forum (BMF) for years. Prior to joining the BMF, he worked for Microsoft as an enterprise strategy consultant and later in a sales executive role within Microsoft. He was also a senior manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He started his career at Accenture, where he worked in a number of industries, both locally and internationally, handling large-scale systems integrations and business solutions for a number of clients.

CGCSA seeks replacement

Commenting on his departure from the CGCSA, the joint chairs, O'Carroll and Pattison, stated that though they excited about Mthunzi's prospects, they are equally saddened by the fact that his departure is going to create a vacuum within the CGCSA. They thanked him for the massive and successful contribution he has made to both the CGCSA and the entire industry.

With his imminent departure, the council has started the process of finding his replacement and has engaged the services of external company to assist in finding a suitable CEO.

It will ask Mapule Ncanywa, GM for Corporate Services, to assume the CEO responsibilities in an acting capacity, for any period between Mthunzi's departure and the new candidate's starting date. Ncanywa is the second most senior employee within the CGCSA, having been part of the organisation for the past two years and participating in board meetings as an acting company secretary.