South Africa's grocery aisles are getting more crowded, and three of the biggest names in them are changing who is in charge. Spar aims to name a new chair and more independent directors by early November. Pick n Pay has picked its next chief executive, and Woolworths put a company veteran in the top job in June.
The pressure is coming from two directions. Shoprite, already the market leader, is being aggressive on price and on opening stores, and Walmart started rolling out its own namesake stores here last year. Charles Allen, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, told Bloomberg that Walmart's supercentres and Shoprite's price response mean the turnarounds at Pick n Pay and Spar need "renewed impetus", which new leadership can deliver.
Pick n Pay hires from Woolworths
Pick n Pay's choice is Spencer Sonn, who becomes chief executive-designate on 1 February 2027 and will work closely with Sean Summers, the chief executive brought back in late 2023 to run the turnaround. Sonn has more than 30 years in retail across South Africa and New Zealand, and used to run Woolworths' South African food business. He also ran Woolworths New Zealand, which, Pick n Pay's announcement points out, has no connection with the South African one.
His most recent job was at Woolworths too. Sonn was its chief customer officer, and was named in June among the executives leaving in the restructure its new group boss put in place from July. Pick n Pay's announcement gives no date for him taking over from Summers; EWN reports that it happens in May 2028.
An insider at Woolworths, a search at Spar
Woolworths went the other way and looked inside. Sam Ngumeni, who has been with the group for almost thirty years and ran its food division, took over as group chief executive on 1 June from Roy Bagattini, who retires at the end of September. Within a month he had redrawn the executive team, promoting Chan Pillay to run Woolworths Food and creating a new chief operating officer role, to bring accountability closer to where value is created, he said. Woolworths was in the stronger financial position, Bloomberg notes, and Ngumeni moved quickly anyway.
Spar's change is happening at board level. It has hired a search firm to find a new chair and more independent directors, and is also assessing candidates put forward by shareholders and its retailers. The search follows months of tension with its independent retailers, which ended with the departures of former chair Mike Bosman and director Shirley Zinn.
The board search comes with a warning attached. Spar told shareholders on Monday that its 2026 financial year will come in behind 2025, with the pressure in its Southern African grocery and liquor business, and that its operational fixes have not yet produced enough earnings or cash to make up for it. It expects those benefits to build through its 2027 financial year.
Spar's full-year results are due on or about 4 December, a month after it hopes to have its new chair.
