Eskom hires telecom veteran Junaid Munshi as new distribution chief

Eskom’s distribution arm has taken a bold step toward market liberalisation, naming veteran telecoms executive Junaid Munshi as its new group executive effective 1 June 2026. Munshi arrives with three decades of engineering, marketing and commercial leadership across South Africa and the wider African continent, a résumé that the utility hopes will accelerate its shift from a monopoly to a competitive player in the evolving electricity market.

The appointment marks a full‑circle moment for Munshi, who began his career at Eskom’s former telecommunications division before moving through the ranks of Telkom, MTN, Cell C, Vodacom and a stint in the Caribbean with Digicel. His most recent role as chief commercial officer of Cable & Wireless Seychelles saw him drive revenue growth, field operations and customer‑service excellence for the island nation’s leading broadband provider.

How Junaid Munshi’s telecoms pedigree aligns with the Eskom distribution division

Munshi’s track record is built on turning complex networks into profit centres. At Vodacom, he steered commercial strategy across Mozambique, Tanzania, Lesotho and the DRC, while at Cell C he oversaw the rollout of fibre‑to‑the‑home services that expanded the carrier’s consumer and enterprise footprint. As CEO of SA Digital Villages, he repositioned a struggling ISP into a prepaid fibre operator, a move that demonstrated his knack for restructuring businesses in highly regulated environments.

Eskom’s group CEO, Dan Marokane, framed the hire as part of a broader “augmentation of internal capabilities with external talent” to fast‑track the utility’s transformation agenda. “In the reformed, liberalised marketplace, we recognise we are no longer a monopoly and need to compete to retain and expand our customer base,” Marokane said in a statement, underscoring the strategic importance of Munshi’s commercial expertise.

Munshi’s academic credentials complement his practical experience. He holds a BSc in electronic engineering from the University of Cape Town, a graduate diploma in engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand, and an MBA from Wits Business School. The combination of technical grounding and business acumen positions him to bridge the gap between Eskom’s legacy infrastructure and the agile, customer‑focused operations demanded by a deregulated power sector.

Career timeline of Junaid Munshi

The table shows a clear pattern: Munshi repeatedly takes charge of commercial turn‑arounds in highly regulated sectors. This experience is precisely what Eskom needs as it navigates the dismantling of its historic monopoly on electricity distribution.

The redistribution of leadership within Eskom’s hierarchy also explains the timing of Munshi’s appointment. The previous group executive, Monde Bala, was seconded to the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA) as interim CEO and later confirmed in that role permanently. Agnes Mlambo has been acting head of distribution while the search was underway, ensuring continuity during the transition.

Eskom’s distribution business is now operating under a new regulatory framework that encourages competition from independent power producers and retail electricity suppliers. The utility must therefore adopt a customer‑centric mindset, invest in smart‑grid technologies and deliver reliable service at competitive prices. Munshi’s background in commercial strategy, fibre rollout and customer‑service optimisation is likely to inform initiatives such as dynamic pricing, digital billing platforms and targeted infrastructure upgrades in underserved areas.

Industry analysts see the hire as a signal that Eskom is serious about reshaping its culture. “Bringing in someone with a proven record of turning telecom networks into revenue‑generating assets suggests Eskom wants to treat electricity distribution more like a service business than a state‑run utility,” noted a senior consultant at a Johannesburg‑based advisory firm.

For South African consumers, the move could translate into more transparent tariffs and improved outage response times. Munshi’s experience with field operations in both urban and remote settings may help Eskom fine‑tune its maintenance schedules and deploy predictive analytics to pre‑empt faults—a crucial step in a country where load‑shedding remains a painful memory.

The broader energy sector is also watching closely. As Africa’s largest power producer, Eskom’s success—or failure—in embracing competition will set a precedent for other state‑owned utilities across the continent. Munshi’s previous work in Tanzania and Mozambique, where he navigated divergent market dynamics, equips him with a regional perspective that could foster cross‑border collaborations on grid stability and renewable integration.

In the months ahead, Munshi is expected to present a detailed road map to the Eskom board, outlining how the distribution division will enhance its commercial capabilities, adopt smart‑metering technologies and align with the National Energy Act’s decentralisation goals. The rollout of pilot projects in Gauteng and the Eastern Cape could serve as early indicators of progress.

Eskom’s leadership has made it clear that the era of unquestioned monopoly is over. By tapping into the telecoms sector’s playbook—where competition, customer experience and rapid innovation are the norm—the Eskom distribution division hopes to reinvent itself for a new age of electricity retail. If Munshi can replicate his past successes within the power sector, South Africa may finally see a distribution network that delivers both reliability and affordability, ushering in a brighter, more competitive energy future.