Shortlist revealed for SA’s top CISOs

Pictured: Justin Williams, MTN (top left); Nelesh Baichan, Cell C (top right); Manoj Puri, Absa (centre); Zaid Parak, Discovery (bottom left); and Suren Naidoo, TFG (bottom right).

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Following an impressive response from the ICT community, ITWeb Brainstorm has shortlisted the finalists for its inaugural CISO Awards.

With two categories – Enterprise CISO of the Year 2026 and Public Sector CISO of the Year 2026 – Brainstorm’s judging panel has identified five finalists for each award. The shortlisted candidates are:

Enterprise CISO of the Year

• Nelesh Baichan, CISO, Cell C
• Suren Naidoo, CISO, TFG
• Zaid Parak, group CISO, Discovery
• Manoj Puri, group chief security officer, Absa
• Justin Williams, group CISO, MTN Group

Public Sector CISO of the Year

• Deidre Marais, CISO, Western Cape government
• Cheryl Modise, executive: IT governance, risk and compliance, Telkom
• Tefo Moreki, group manager: cyber security and information, Airports Company South Africa
• Siphokazi Novukuza, cyber security director, Department of Communications and Digital Technologies
• Gugu Ntuli, IT security and infrastructure manager, Department of Science, Technology and Innovation

Brainstorm has been championing the role of the CISO for several years, through initiatives such as its CISO Directory, CISO Survey and focused roundtables. This year, in association with Cisco, Brainstorm has extended this recognition by celebrating the excellence of the country’s cyber security leaders.

Deidre Marais, Western Cape Government (top left); Tefo Moreki, ACSA (top right); Siphokazi Novukuza, Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (centre); Gugu Ntuli, Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (bottom left); and Cheryl Modise, Telkom (bottom right).

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“With the nature of the cyber landscape being one of constant evolution and continual threat of attack, CISOs are under relentless pressure. From our work across the ICT space, we know there are some excellent CISOs out there, and we wanted to provide a platform to celebrate them,” says Matthew Burbidge, editor of Brainstorm.

See also

Hunt is on for the country’s top CISOs

“While it will be a hard job selecting the winners, the fact that we are able to highlight several finalists helps to demonstrate the leading executives South Africa has in this field. I also want to thank the ICT industry for putting forward some exceptionally talented candidates.”

The winners for each award will be revealed at the ITWeb Brainstorm CISO Banquet, which is being held on Thursday, 25 June, in Johannesburg.