Pick n Pay, SPAR and Woolworths are all changing who leads them, at a time when Shoprite is cutting prices and Walmart is opening supercentres in South Africa, BusinessTech reported. The changes differ in kind: Pick n Pay has named a future chief executive, SPAR is replacing its chairman, and Woolworths’ new chief executive has already reorganised his executive team.
## SPAR replaces its chairman
SPAR announced on Monday 28 September that it will appoint a new chairman and add independent directors to its board by early November. The former chairman, Mike Bosman, and deputy chair Shirley Zinn resigned on 17 August after months of tension with independent retailers, Moneyweb reported. SPAR has hired an independent search firm to assess candidates for retail, financial, remuneration and governance skills, and the appointments are subject to regulatory requirements and shareholder election at the next annual general meeting.
The board overhaul comes with a weak trading update for the 48 weeks to 28 August 2026. Revenue from merchandise sales had moderated from the interim period, Southern African wholesale volumes and trading remained subdued, and retailer credit losses, provisions and write-offs stayed elevated. SPAR said its 2026 financial performance will be weaker than 2025’s, with pressure concentrated in Southern African grocery and liquor. “Operational improvements have not yet translated into sufficient earnings or cash benefits to offset that pressure,” the company said, according to TimesLIVE.
Chief executive Reeza Isaacs said the most important measures would be “whether the turnaround delivers tangible improvement in retailer and group performance”. Full-year results are scheduled for 4 December 2026, and SPAR expects the benefits of its turnaround measures to build progressively through 2027 and beyond.
## Pick n Pay names a successor
Pick n Pay announced on 22 September that Spencer Sonn is its CEO-designate. Sonn was Woolworths’ chief customer officer, and previously spent five years running its food division. His departure from Woolworths was announced in that company’s June reorganisation. He will work alongside current chief executive Sean Summers during the handover, which begins in February 2027, with Sonn taking over as CEO in May 2028 when Summers’ contract ends. Our report on the appointment and how the handover will work has the detail.
Summers returned to Pick n Pay in 2023, and the retailer has been trying to recover ground lost to Shoprite. According to CNBC Africa, its latest results showed group turnover up 3.4% on a comparable basis and like-for-like sales at company-owned supermarkets up 3.9%, with the headline loss narrowing to R386 million from R408 million.
## Woolworths’ new CEO resets the team
Sam Ngumeni became Woolworths group chief executive on 1 June 2026, after nearly 30 years with the group, succeeding Roy Bagattini, who had led it for more than six years. Ngumeni was previously CEO of the food division and before that group chief operating officer, according to Woolworths’ announcement of the succession on 12 March.
On 23 June he announced an organisational reset effective 1 July. Chan Pillay, formerly commercial director for food, became chief executive of Woolworths Food, and Manie Maritz, previously CEO of Woolworths Ventures, took over Fashion, Beauty and Home from Nuholt Huisamen. Bradley Nitsckie was promoted from chief supply chain officer to the group’s first chief operating officer, and Christie Koorts became chief digital and technology officer. “The new organisational design brings accountability closer to where value is created and equips the Group with the right people in the right roles,” Ngumeni said, according to the company’s reset announcement.
## Walmart’s reach is still small
The competitive pressure is narrower than the word “supercentres” suggests. Massmart opened its third Walmart store, at Eastpoint in Boksburg, on 28 February 2026, and has 21 more proposed across Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. Massmart says independently published total price comparisons confirm a low-price advantage for Walmart on a comparable trolley of everyday essentials, according to its store announcement.
“The arrival of Walmart supercentres and Shoprite’s robust price response means that the turnarounds at Pick n Pay and SPAR need renewed impetus to ensure sales gains, which can be delivered by new leadership,” said Charles Allen, a London-based analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
## What suppliers should watch
Suppliers and franchise operators depend on these chains’ buying decisions, payment terms and store formats, and none of the announcements says anything about changes to those. The next signals are SPAR’s board appointments in November, its full-year results on 4 December, and the first trading updates under the new leadership at Pick n Pay and Woolworths. Related coverage is in Retail & Consumer and Markets & Finance.
