Managing director Tonie Fuchs has resigned, and will be replaced by Charl du Bois in August

South African fresh produce multinational Capespan has announced the resignation of its managing director Tonie Fuchs.

Charl du Bois Capespan

Charl du Bois

Fuchs will be replaced by Charl du Bois on 1 August, following what the group called a “structured handover”.

“Capespan is entering a new phase of development and growth on the back of the group’s recent successes and supported by our new shareholders,” said Fuchs.

”I believe this presents the ideal opportunity for Capespan to embrace new executive leadership and is the reason why I decided to step down. 

“Capespan and its people have been an important part of my life for eleven years,” he explained. ”But I believe this is the right time to step down, especially in the knowledge that I can hand the reigns over to someone of Charl’s calibre.”

Du Bois joined Capespan in August 2016 and has served the group as commercial executive since 2020. 

“I want to thank the board for their confidence in my leadership and for Tonie for his continued support and partnership,” said Du Bois. “I look forward to building on everything that we have accomplished under Tonie’s leadership.

”Supported by a management team that has proven to be the most dedicated and resilient in this industry, Capespan will continue to improve on its execution of delivering on our promises to customers and maximising returns for our producer partners.”

Reinhardt Siegrühn, chairman of the Capespan board, thanked Fuchs for his “visionary leadership and unrelenting dedication”.

”During his tenure as managing director, he oversaw the restructure of Capespan’s entire business model to become more customer centric,” Siegrühn outlined. “Under his leadership Capespan has grown from strength to strength and has consistently proven the resilience of its new business model, even during some of the industry’s most challenging times.

“Charl has been instrumental in the Capespan revival,” he continued. ”He has extensive experience in the fruit industry and has been an integral part of the Capespan management team over the last few years. 

”He is the perfect candidate to take over the leadership of Capespan and to build on the recent successes in pursuit of further growth for all our stakeholders. The board has the utmost confidence in him.”