The woman who was the youngest senior manager at Absa and now chairs one of its biggest competitors

Santie Botha has been the chairperson of Capitec since 2019, overseeing the strong performance of South Africa’s largest bank by customer numbers.

Botha was born in August 1964 in Cape Town and matriculated from JG Meiring High School in Goodwood.

She went on to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Economics at Stellenbosch University in 1985 and received her honours degree a year later.

According to Botha, she was not the ‘bookish’ type growing up, preferring to play swingball “against the world”.

She eventually became something of a “serious” tennis player as a young adult—although she was never good enough to go professional, she said, and family finances were tight.

When choosing her degree, she knew she wanted to do some form of business—inspired by a childhood dream to run a boutique—but there was no plan.

But even without a professional career on the tennis court or a specific career plan, Botha proved to be an unstoppable force in the corporate world.

She built an illustrious and successful career, claiming many firsts in South Africa.

Having grown up with three older brothers—no sisters—and losing her father at young age, she said she always had three strong male figures in her life.

As a result, “the corporate world just came naturally in a bizarre way,” she said.

She started her career with two big corporates, Barclays and the Unilever, where she took to marketing “like a fish to water”. She then worked in a series of marketing and sales roles in Durban and London.

Botha would later take over the position of Commercial Sales Director of van den Berg Foodservice, UK, returning to South Africa in 1996 to join the Absa Group.

Having already built up strong work experience in corporate, she served as Absa’s Marketing Director, where she was in charge of the group’s overall marketing strategy and structure.

According to the group, she was instrumental in successfully merging four retail brands into Absa, including Allied Bank, United Building Society (UBS), Volkskas and TrustBank.

At just 34 years old, she was the youngest person appointed to senior management and the Absa Bank Board.

After just three years as executive director, the group’s brand was propelled into the top 10 brands in the country.

But her career didn’t stop there.

Moving out of the banking space, Botha joined the MTN Group in 2003 and became the Executive Director of Marketing.

She also served on the group’s Executive Committee and held board directorships at MTN SA, Cameroon, and Yemen.

She is credited with turning MTN into one of the Top Mobile Brands in Africa. Within a year of acquisition, she was in charge of rebranding nine Investcom countries to MTN.

During her time as a member of the executive team, MTN’s business grew from six countries in 2003 to 21 countries in 2010, reaching 140 million customers and R110 billion in revenue.

Botha then left MTN at the end of 2010 to pursue other interests, becoming a regular feature on the boards of several major South African companies for the better part of a decade.

“The sky’s the limit”

Reflecting on her success in corporate, Botha said that when it comes to business, “you have to do big things” to set yourself apart.

“But what people often forget about the big things, is that you have to do the hard thinking first. When you want to change the world or make life better for your stakeholders—whoever they are—you have to do the hard thinking,” she said.

“Then you have to say, who do I want on my team? And that’s when you employ the very best.”

“When you have B-team players, you’re going to get B-team results. So get your A-team—like-minded individuals with different skills—and the sky’s the limit.”

In 2019, she joined Capitec as the group’s independent chairperson—replacing former CEO and co-founder Riaan Stassen.

At the time of her appointment, Capitec said that Botha’s stewardship would strengthen the independent element of the boards.

Botha said that, when it comes to choosing which businesses she joins—whether at board level or consulting—she sticks to the industries she knows, and where she can make a meaningful contribution.

During her tenure, Capitec’s customer numbers increased from 11.4 million in 2019 to over 23 million by 2024, making it the biggest bank in the country by customer numbers.

Headline earnings increased from R6.277 billion in 2020 to R10.578 billion in 2024. The group’s market cap now stands at roughly R355 billion.

On top of her Capitec role, she also served as the chairperson of the Curro Holdings and Famous Brands, leaving both roles in 2024.

She was a non-executive director of Telkom, Liberty Holdings and Imperial Holdings.

“When you’re a non-executive director on a board, a management team needs to have respect for your ability, your skill and your experience,” she said.

The management team are in the business, they “live, eat, breathe” the business—so when the board tries to them what to do, they need to know what they’re talking about and be able to seriously contribute, she said.

She was also the chancellor of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University from 2011 to 2017—marking another record, being the youngest chancellor in the country at the age of 48.

She has won several awards, including Marketer of the Year in 2002 by the Marketing Federation of South Africa, and the BWA Businesswoman of the Year in 2010.

Big Changes at Capitec

Botha said she believes in change and reinvention—a fitting disposition for the current changes at Capitec, where the CEO of 11 years, Gerrie Fourie, will enter early retirement in July.

Fourie has been part of Capitec’s executive management team for the past 25 years. “Gerrie has provided exceptional leadership and strategic vision,” said Botha.

“He has facilitated significant growth and innovation and built a strong and diverse leadership team poised to carry the Group into the future.” 

The board announced that Graham Lee, the group executive of the personal bank division, will succeed Fourie as CEO and board member in July.

Lee joined Capitec in 2003 and has held several positions in credit, technology, data, and personal bank operations.

Basani Maluleke, the former CEO of African Bank, will succeed Graham Lee as Group Executive for the personal bank division.

Maluleke joined Capitec in 2021 and has worked as the divisional executive of operations since 2022. “We have tremendous confidence in both Graham and Basani,” said Botha.

“Their deep understanding of the business and of our clients, innovative spirit, proven leadership capabilities and track record will ensure continuity and drive our strategic objectives forward.”

“The Board is grateful to Gerrie for the incredible leadership role that he has played during his 11 and a half-year tenure as CEO to entrench a high-performance culture in the business.”