Man who owned shebeens and got shot received R2.5 milllion a month from Cell C
Jorge Mendes, CEO of Cell C, received total earned remuneration of R29.309 million for the 2026 financial year, working out to approximately R2.44 million per month.
Cell C’s 2026 Remuneration Implementation Report shows that this included R14.77 million in guaranteed pay, R28,000 in other benefits and allowances, and an R11.955 million short-term incentive.
He also received R2.556 million from the long-term component of awards made under the company’s previous Single Incentive Plan.
Mendes was also awarded R15.435 million in performance-based shares under Cell C’s new long-term incentive scheme. This brought his total awarded remuneration to R42.188 million.
The figures were disclosed in Cell C’s first integrated annual report, published on 1 October 2026.
Although Mendes became CEO in 2023, his full remuneration was only publicly disclosed in 2026, following Cell C’s listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in November 2025.
Before its listing, Cell C was an unlisted company and operated under its own remuneration policy and committee.
Its executive remuneration was therefore excluded from the relevant disclosures in Blue Label Telecoms’ annual reports.
Mendes received a short-term incentive after the company achieved 94% of its controllable EBITDA target.
His individual performance was rated at 125%, with the remuneration committee concluding that he had exceeded expectations.
The committee credited him with providing leadership through a critical period of transformation, helping Cell C complete its turnaround and position itself as a listed telecommunications business.
Speaking to Aki Anastasiou on the What’s Next podcast earlier this year, Mendes explained that he grew up in a typical Portuguese household and started working part-time at the age of 12.
He initially worked at a liquor store on Friday afternoons and Saturdays, which helped him develop an entrepreneurial streak.
“I owned some shebeens, and I used to deliver to shebeens. I then got involved in liquor stores,” he said.
The turning point in his career
However, his business ventures took a turn when his business partner was killed during a liquor store robbery. Mendes was also shot, having been held up three times while working in the liquor trade.
The experience prompted him to reconsider his career and seek a safer working environment. While recovering, he applied for a position at a Teljoy call centre in 1994 after spotting an advertisement in a newspaper.
“It was a complete career shift. I had no real plan to become something significant in the ICT sector,” he said.
Mendes had originally intended to become an architect and studied technical civil drawing at John Orr Technical High School.
Despite this, his call centre job ultimately became the starting point of a three-decade career in telecommunications.
Most of that career was spent at Vodacom, where he rose through the ranks and eventually became head of its consumer business unit.
After four years in the position, he left the company and took a seven-month break before accepting the challenge of leading Cell C.
His appointment came at a difficult time for the mobile operator, which had been struggling under substantial debt and financial pressure.
Under his leadership, Cell C completed a major restructuring, migrated to a network-sharing model and returned to profitability. It subsequently listed on the JSE in November 2025.
For the 2026 financial year, revenue increased by 14% to R12.641 billion, while its subscriber base grew from 7.6 million to 8.9 million.
Mendes said the company had rebuilt its network credibility, grown its customer base, and regained customer trust.
More photos of Jorge Mendes
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