Santam announces appointment of Group Chief Executive Officer

The Board of Directors of Santam Limited is pleased to announce the appointment of Tavaziva (‘Tava’) Madzinga to succeed Lizé Lambrechts as the Santam Group Chief Executive.

He will be appointed as Executive Director with effect from 1 April 2022 and Chief Executive with effect from 1 July 2022. Tava joins Santam from Britam Holdings, a diversified investment business listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, where he was Group Managing Director. His appointment was approved by the Santam Board as well as the Prudential Authority in South Africa.

Tava is a qualified actuary who has worked in the insurance and broader financial services sector spanning life, non-life, asset management and banking for the last 20 years.  He has worked primarily in South Africa and Sub-Sahara Africa, in both technical and business leadership roles at country and regional level.  After more than 16 years at Old Mutual, he joined Swiss Re for four years, initially as Chief Executive for the Middle East and Africa and later Chief Executive for the UK and Ireland, based in London. 

Lizé advised the board in June 2021 of her intention to formally retire during the course of 2022. She will remain in her role as Chief Executive until 30 June 2022 to facilitate a smooth transition to Tava.

Commenting on the appointment of Tava, the Chair of the Santam Board, Pinky Moholi said: “Tava comes with excellent insurance experience and business credentials. He will be joining a strong executive team and we are looking forward to his contribution”.