The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), the country's state broadcaster, has unveiled Nomsa Chabeli as its new group chief executive officer (GCEO).
Chabeli, an experienced media and sports executive, has previously worked at South African telecom MTN and African heavyweight media company MultiChoice where she was the marketing director of pay-TV's SuperSport and subsequently of the DStv portfolio. She has also worked at SAB, Brand South Africa, GCIS, and Edcon.
Career highlights include leading the marketing and communications for the 2010 FIFA World Cup bid that resulted in South Africa’s confirmation as the host country for the soccer tournament, being marketing director of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003, and overseeing the development of South Africa’s communications and marketing strategy for various Davos World Economic Forums.
She holds an MBA from Henley Business School and is currently completing a Masters in Digital Business at Wits Business School.
In her new role with SABC Chabeli will be expected to drive revenue generation, strategic growth, and innovation, leading the strategic vision across the entire SABC Group.
A key part of her role will be to address the broadcaster's significant financial challenges, which have led to it requiring a bailout from the South African government. SABC made a loss of R1.1 billion ($59 million) across the 2022-23 financial year.
Chabeli said: “I am truly honored and excited to join the SABC as its new GCEO. This organization holds a rich legacy of public service through broadcasting, and I am committed to advancing its mission and intensifying efforts to significantly improve revenue generation and lay the foundation for enduring success.
“Faced with the challenges of a rapidly evolving digital landscape, together we will embrace innovation, foster meaningful connections, and ensure that our content continues to inspire, inform, and resonate with diverse audiences in this dynamic media landscape.”
In September, despite its financial difficulties the SABC agreed on a deal with African heavyweight broadcasting company MultiChoice to showcase all of South Africa’s games at the 2023 Rugby World Cup (RWC) in France.
In June, meanwhile, the SABC retained domestic free-to-air broadcast rights to English soccer’s Premier League for the 2023-24 season, which is now underway. It marks the first time the South African broadcaster has held the rights to the league since 2019.
The majority of heavyweight sporting action from across the globe, though (outside international events with South Africa competing), is shown in that country by SuperSport, however.
