Strategy & Leadership

Corlia van Zyl, digital and technology director (DNT) at Heineken Beverages South Africa, believes in putting up her hand and taking opportunities. Marking three decades with the company, her philosophy has remained constant: technology matters, but people matter more.

The 2025 CIO Award winners share the leadership lessons shaped by a year of uncertainty and rapid change. From agility and authenticity to timing and composure under pressure, Irwhan Rakiep and Hans Zachar outline the practical principles that guided their IT leadership in 2025.

A snapshot of South African CIOs who led high-impact transformation in 2025 by aligning technology, people and strategy to deliver measurable change under real-world constraints.

Cloud modernisation has moved beyond an IT upgrade to become a defining business strategy. Drawing on global examples and local experience, Nzama Mathebula argues that without a clear roadmap and committed executive leadership, cloud initiatives are likely to fall short of their promised value.

When Pick n Pay committed to a turnaround strategy in February 2024, the role of IT was clear: support the business and deliver results without unnecessary complexity. For CIO Mark Tudor, that meant focusing on practical innovation and measurable value.

Dr Bongani Andy Mabaso, group CTO at Altron, likes to think on the fly and at the age of five was already dismantling toys, trying to figure out how each component worked. With roots in engineering and a leadership philosophy shaped by accountability and empowerment, he has built his career on pragmatism, problem-solving and an unwavering focus on people.

More organisations are recognising the need to include IT expertise at board level – as such, the CIO’s role in the boardroom is crucial, writes Land Bank CTOO and 2023 Public Sector CIO of the Year Faith Burn.

In the rapidly changing world of healthcare, technology is not just an enabler but a cornerstone of sustainable transformation. At Life Healthcare, CIO David Price has emerged as a key architect of this shift, bringing a distinctive engineer’s lens to IT leadership.

As global organisations explore models that combine IT and HR to meet the demands of an evolving workplace, CIO South Africa asked leading local executives whether the same shift could take root in the country.

Eswee Vorster believes in setting his young team free “to do their crazy”. Since joining low-cost airline FlySafair in 2015, the CIO has spent the last decade building the team, systems and thinking that underpin the airline’s high-performance digital backbone.

Direct Transact CIO Dirk Labuschagne discusses why IT chiefs in the financial services should convince their boards to invest in a three-pronged defence approach.

Absa group CITO Johnson Idesoh reflects on his triple wins and outlines how the recognition will drive his team’s next phase of digital and data innovation.

Sometimes things need to be built and sometimes, they need to be broken down to understand their purpose, their limits, or their failure points. BC Technologies’ head of technology Dionne Swart shares the early lessons that shaped him, and how those moments taught him to lead, to learn and to build teams differently.

Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA) CTO Phila Ndarana is a people-first IT leader who believes in cultivating dignified technology environments that serve both business and people.

With youth unemployment above 60 percent, IT leaders stress the urgent need for strategic skills development, mentorship programmes and anti-fragile organisational thinking.

What can South African enterprises learn from CIOs who have navigated IT landscapes across the globe, especially when it comes to shared services? This was a key question posed during a panel discussion at the recent 2025 IT Indaba.

As group IT executive at Adcorp, Abri Erasmus leads with a solutionist mindset rooted in curiosity, structure and service. His journey from theology to technology reflects a philosophy that sees complexity as opportunity rather than chaos.

At the University of Johannesburg (UJ), CIO Maletsema Phofu is redefining the balance between innovation and security by championing collaboration, business alignment and clear communication across the institution’s digital landscape.

Dr Gavin Moss, CIO of RMB corporate transaction banking, is driving technology in one of the bank’s newest divisions. With a people-first ethos, he balances operational demands with bold bets on digital banking in South Africa.

Equinix, CIO South Africa’s trusted partner, hosted the Equinix Engage event at the Marriott Melrose on 7 October to explore the opportunities and challenges around building AI-ready infrastructure.