The shares of MTN Group slipped 1.17 percent during JSE’s  intraday trading on Wednesday after the mobile phone operator said the former CEO has rejoined the firm as non-executive chairman.

But traders were quick to tell Ventures Africa that the share’s losses were not related to the re-appointment of Phuthuma Nhleko as the new chair of the company.

A Johannesburg-based trader said MTN shares followed the general performance of the JSE, which saw losses in financial, industrial and other shares during early trade.

An analyst told Ventures Africa that the market would possibly not react badly to the appointment of Nhleko as chairman of the company.

“The market would surely welcome him because he brings with him an amazing wealth of experience. In addition, he knows the company very well. He will help come up with great strategies for the group,” the analyst said.

Nhleko’s reappointment comes after the official resignation of Cyril Ramaphosa as head of the MTN board in March this year.

Nhleko’s appointment as chairman of the company was announced at MTN’s annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday.

Ramaphosa resigned after he was elected deputy president of the ANC at the ANC’s 53rd National Conference in Mangaung in December last year.

Ramaphosa was made a member of the MTN board on 1 October 2001 and has been heading of the MTN board from 2002.

Nhleko left MTN Group at the end of March 2011. He was appointed CEO of the group in 2002.

Another long-serving director, Sifiso Dabengwa, took over the position of CEO of the group when Nhleko resigned.