By Emmanuel Ogbodo<\/p>\n
Sifiso Dabengwa, the former CEO of MTN Group and a board member of Eskom, has passed away after battling cancer, according to a family spokesperson. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of Raymond Sifiso Dabengwa, who succumbed to cancer this morning. Dabengwa was a titan in the telecommunications industry and an astute businessman,” said family spokesman Themba Sibanyoni in a statement.<\/p>\n
Dabengwa held a BSc in Electrical Engineering and an MBA. He is survived by his wife, Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, CEO of Naspers South Africa, and their four children. Dabengwa was best known for his role as MTN Group CEO and president from 2011 to 2015, succeeding Phuthuma Nhleko, who stepped down on March 31, 2011.<\/p>\n
Before becoming MTN\u2019s chief executive, Dabengwa served as the group\u2019s chief operating officer. He joined MTN in 1999 as managing director of the South African operations after serving as an Executive Director at Eskom. In 2004, he was promoted to chief operating officer and took on a dual role as CEO of MTN Nigeria. Later, he returned to South Africa, working closely with Nhleko on developing and executing the group\u2019s growth strategy.<\/p>\n
“His tenure as CEO of MTN Group from 2011 to 2015 was marked by visionary leadership, integrity, and dedication, driving significant advancements in the industry,” the statement continued. “He was a strong advocate for education and a fervent believer in the power of technology to transform lives.”<\/p>\n
Dabengwa\u2019s departure from MTN in 2015\u2014officially described as a resignation\u2014occurred amidst the fallout from a record-setting $5.2 billion fine imposed by a Nigerian regulator. The fine was related to MTN Nigeria’s alleged failure to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards. At the time, MTN stated, “The engagement with the Nigerian authorities on the Nigerian Communications Commission fine is continuing, and shareholders will be advised as soon as there are any material developments on this matter.”<\/p>\n
Dabengwa was appointed as an Eskom director on January 19, 2018, and resigned on July 21, 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Emmanuel Ogbodo Sifiso Dabengwa, the former CEO of MTN Group and a board member of Eskom, has passed away after battling cancer, according to a family spokesperson. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of Raymond Sifiso Dabengwa, who succumbed to cancer this morning. Dabengwa was a titan in the telecommunications industry and an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46657,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46651\/revisions\/46657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}