Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom Group met with South Africa’s Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Mondli Gungubele.

Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom Group, and Sitho Mdlalose, CEO of Vodacom SA, met with South Africa’s Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Mondli Gungubele on Friday.

The meeting, which was held at Vodacom headquarters, covered a range of industry issues and was intended to strengthen partnerships with the country's telecom firm, according to the company.

According to Vodacom, the minister also toured the company's data centres, where they discussed network resilience and uninterrupted energy supply, with a focus on Vodacom's virtual wheeling plan.

“Furthermore, the minister engaged on priority areas of his department which include: deep rural coverage, cost to communicate and roll out of digital skills programme. Vodacom shared its intention to work collaboratively with Government to make a meaningful impact on SA’s digital society,” said Vodacom.

Political networking

Joosub's meeting on Friday was the latest in a series of meetings with political leaders in nations where the telco has a presence.

Two weeks ago, Joosub visited Tanzania where he met the country’s president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, and director general of the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, Dr. Jabiri Bakari, to discuss Vodacom's strategic initiatives and sector-related issues in the East African country.

A week before, he met the government of Lesotho, where they agreed to collaborate to expand the digital economy and strengthen the relationship between Vodacom Lesotho, the Vodacom Group, the government, and the private sector.