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The Search for KZN’s Best Bunny Chow Returns for a Milestone 20th Year

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9 November, Durban, South Africa — The search for KwaZulu-Natal’s best bunny chow is underway as the Coca-Cola Bunny Chow Barometer Challenge returns for its 20th year.

Sponsored by Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA), a company in the Coca-Cola Beverages Africa group, the competition will see participating eateries assessed by trained secret shoppers, with the 10 highest-scoring outlets advancing to the final at Blue Lagoon, Durban, on Sunday, 29 November. Entry to the final is free and open to the public.

Around 3,000 people are expected to attend the final, where the contenders will present their bunny chows to a live judging panel before one is crowned KwaZulu-Natal’s Best Bunny Chow. Performances by NaakMusiq, Dladla, Veranda Panda and other artists will also form part of the day’s entertainment.

20 years of celebrating local flavour

The Coca-Cola Bunny Chow Barometer Challenge has become a much-anticipated fixture on KwaZulu-Natal’s events calendar, celebrating Durban’s iconic dish and the local eateries behind it. As the competition’s longstanding official sponsor, CCBSA supports the initiative as part of its commitment to partnering with customers for growth and supporting local business development.

“Local businesses play an important role in driving communities and economies. The Bunny Chow Barometer gives participating eateries valuable exposure, connects them with new consumers and helps create opportunities for their businesses to thrive. Through initiatives like this, we aim to grow alongside our customers and create shared value in the communities we serve,” says Richard Wellington, CCBSA KZN Sales Director.

“CCBSA has deep roots in KwaZulu-Natal, anchored by our two manufacturing plants in Phoenix, dedicated sales teams and extensive distribution network. We are proud to support an event that celebrates a uniquely Durban food tradition while shining a spotlight on the local businesses behind it.”

The road to the final

Throughout October, trained secret shoppers visited participating eateries and assessed qualifying bunny chows against an established set of judging criteria. The scores will now be consolidated, with the highest-scoring eateries securing their spot in the grand finale.

The finalists will be announced ahead of the event, giving the public an opportunity to meet the businesses competing for the title and discover the people behind their favourite bunny chows.

The final at Blue Lagoon will bring the competition to a close, giving residents and visitors an opportunity to support local eateries while celebrating one of Durban’s most iconic culinary traditions.

The 2026 Coca-Cola Bunny Chow Barometer Challenge takes place at Blue Lagoon, Durban, on Sunday, 29 November 2026. Entry is free and open to the public.

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Vinolia Singh

People & Culture Director

Vinolia Singh is the People & Culture Director for Coca-Cola Beverages Africa – South Africa. Having worked for some of South Africa’s leading organisations, including Discovery, MultiChoice, Imperial, Adcorp, and Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, she has built a reputation for developing high-performing organisations where people and business performance thrive together.

Since joining Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in May 2025 and assuming her current role in April 2026, Vinolia has focused on strengthening organisational capability, shaping culture, and building leadership that enables sustainable growth. She combines commercial insight with a people-centred approach, using innovation and technology to create simpler, more effective ways of working.

Known for her authentic and energetic leadership style, Vinolia is passionate about developing leaders, unlocking potential, and creating inclusive workplaces where people can do their best work. She believes that when people are empowered by purpose, trust, and opportunity, exceptional business results follow.

She hold’s numerous qualifications across IT, HR, and an executive MBA. Her leadership philosophy is simple: great businesses are built by great leaders who create environments where people can perform, grow, and thrive.”

Manish Maloo

Finance Director

Manish is a seasoned Chartered Accountant with over 22 years of experience in the Coca-Cola system, including leadership roles at Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages and Coca-Cola India. He brings extensive expertise in finance leadership, strategic business partnering, and operational excellence, with a strong track record of enabling sustainable and profitable growth.
 
His experience spans mergers and acquisitions, large-scale transformation initiatives, and strengthening governance and compliance frameworks. His contributions include leading a major acquisition and refranchising project, driving productivity initiatives, and supporting key strategic partnerships, positioning him to help advance CCBA’s growth and transformation agenda.
Steven Hayes

Key Accounts Director

Steven has more than 20 years of commercial leadership experience across the FMCG sector, having held senior leadership roles at Kimberly-Clark, Tiger Brands, PepsiCo and AVI Ltd. Throughout his career, he has consistently delivered sustainable business growth by combining strategic thinking with disciplined commercial execution and a strong customer-centric approach.

His experience spans key account management, sales leadership, commercial strategy, route-to-market transformation and business turnaround initiatives across Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining CCBSA, Steven served as General Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa at Kimberly-Clark, where he was responsible for driving commercial performance across multiple markets. He has also led customer, category and sales transformation programmes, managed some of South Africa’s largest retail partnerships, and built highperforming teams that consistently exceeded business objectives.

Steven is recognised as a commercially astute and dynamic leader with a collaborative leadership style. He is passionate about developing people, fostering strong customer relationships and creating winning commercial strategies that deliver long-term value. He actively participates in industry forums and remains committed to continuous learning through executive development programmes.

Steven holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree, awarded cum laude, completed through the former University of Port Elizabeth (now Nelson Mandela University) in partnership with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Craig Harris

Trade Marketing Director

With an impressive 30-year tenure in the business, Craig has held various positions including Account Manager, Channel Manager, Key Account Manager, and Head of Customer. In 2021, he was seconded to The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) as Customer Director for two and a half years. Prior to this appointment, he occupied the role of Regional General Manager in North Region.

Craig holds qualifications including a Diploma from IMM, Management Advancement Programme (MAP) from Wits University, and is currently pursuing an MBA at Wits.

His career highlights include spearheading successful change management initiatives in customer and commercial domains, receiving numerous customer recognition awards, and being honoured at the TCCC Global awards for best practice execution. In 2017 Craig was also recognised as a CCBSA Grand Master.

Edwin Fisher

IT Director

To enhance the alignment of IT capabilities with business needs, Edwin Fisher has been appointed IT Director for CCBSA, effective 1 January 2025. With 24 years of IT experience, including 12 years in senior leadership roles, Fisher has been with CCBA for 17 years, showcasing his deep understanding of the company’s IT landscape.

Under his leadership, CCBSA aims to drive its digitisation agenda, fostering agile, responsive, and integrated IT services that support employees and strategic objectives.

Basetsana-Bame Modimogale

Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability Director

Basetsana-Bame Modimogale serves as Public Affairs, Communications, and Sustainability Director for Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa. Bame has spent 19 years of service within the Coca-Cola system.

Since joining the business in 2007 as a Trainee Account Manager, she has advanced through a succession of leadership positions across sales, key accounts, and alternative revenue streams. Across each appointment, she has demonstrated exceptional leadership and a proven ability to deliver results through commercial and strategic partnerships. A committed lifelong learner who leads with authenticity, she invests deeply in developing others and building winning teams that endure.

She holds a BCom in Law & Marketing, a BCom Honours in Strategy, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA). Beyond her executive role, Basetsana serves on several boards and contributes actively to industry forums. Her contributions have been recognised through numerous internal and external awards, a testament to her sustained impact.

A purpose-driven leader and a woman of faith, Bame’s leadership belief is that “it is not about who you are that matters, but it’s about who and what you are becoming — the greatest version of self. The rest will always fall in place.”

Tony Smith

Human Resources Director

Tony brings a wealth of experience, with over 20 years in Human Resources, including 15 years at senior leadership and executive levels. He has a long-standing association with CCBSA. Over his 14 years with the company, he has gained a deep understanding of its business, culture, and people.

His extensive career spans unionised and corporate environments across industries such as Food and Beverages, Mining, Development Finance and Consumer Goods. He has held significant roles at leading organisations, including De Beers, Lonmin, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), Amalgamated Beverage Industries, and Unilever. His expertise positions him to lead the People and Culture function with a focus on fostering a workplace that aligns with CCBSA’s strategic objectives.

Rakesh Rajbally

Managing Director: South Africa

Rakesh Rajbally is Managing Director of Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA). A seasoned FMCG executive with nearly 30 years of leadership experience, Rakesh has held the role since 2024.

Rakesh sets the strategic direction for CCBSA through a leadership approach grounded in disciplined execution, and the ability to mobilise teams around shared priorities in a complex and evolving operating and regulatory environment. He played a pivotal role in CCBSA’s evolution through some of the most significant shifts in its history. These include the integration of six legacy bottling operations that came together to form CCBSA in 2016, and the introduction of the Health Promotion Levy in 2018. He successfully also spearheaded CCBSA’s transformation journey, including its achievement of Level 1 B-BBEE status.

Beyond his executive responsibilities, Rakesh serves on several boards across the Coca-Cola system, including Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa, Appletiser South Africa, Coca-Cola Fortune, Eswatini Coca-Cola Beverages, and Coca-Cola Beverages Lesotho. He also serves on the Localisation Support Fund (LSF) – South Africa’s apex body for driving localisation across the manufacturing sector.

Rakesh holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree: Finance and Logistics from the University of South Africa.

Janett Forbes

Commercial Excellence Director

Janett is a seasoned financial, logistics, and commercial executive who joins us from Vector Logistics previously a division of RCL Foods where she held position of Finance Director.

Prior to this, Janett was part of the Coca-Cola family, having occupied various senior roles of Finance Manager, Category Manager, Revenue Growth Manager and Channel Development Manager within ABI in 2002 and 2016.

Janett is a qualified Chartered Accountant (CA(SA), has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Rhodes University in Grahamstown and a higher diploma in Accounting from University of Natal in Durban.

Nozicelo Ngcobo

Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability Director

Nozicelo started her corporate career in 1994 when she was recruited by Sasol into their Management Trainee Programme of the top 16 academic graduates in South Africa – class of 1993. In addition to Sasol, Nozicelo has since worked for listed companies such as Telkom SA, South African Breweries (SAB) as well as multi-national organisations such as Philip Morris International (PMI). In 2020, Nozicelo joined Coca Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) as Director for PACS.

Nozicelo has a demonstrable track record in successfully developing and managing corporate affairs and regulatory strategies for complex industries such as alcohol, tobacco and recently the beverages industry. Nozicelo has strong professional networks spanning more than 25 years in both public and private sectors. Her strategic insights, value creation, solutions orientation, strong business/political acumen, solid networks and ability to mobilise teams to successfully execute towards a common vision are just some of the many attributes she brings into any organisation.

Nozicelo is an advocate of human rights, animal rights and has a passion for youth/women empowerment.

Desilan Pillay

Logistics Director

Desilan is a transformation-focused executive with more than 20 years of multinational leadership experience across organisations including Coca-Cola Beverages Africa – South Africa, Unilever, AB InBev, SABMiller, Kevro (Barron), Anchor Holdings and Afrox. He holds a BSc Mechanical Engineering (UND), MDP (UCT), and Certified Director (IoDSA). He has a proven track record of leading enterprise operations, supply chain, logistics, procurement, and manufacturing functions while delivering productivity, growth, customer excellence and organisational transformation across Africa. He brings a unique combination of multinational scale, entrepreneurial agility, operational excellence and people leadership, with a consistent focus on creating sustainable business value.

Amongst others, his career highlights include consolidating three facilities into one worldclass operation in his capacity as Chief Operations Officer at Barron, leading the Africa logistics transformation and network optimisation at Unilever, successfully steering the expansion of SABMIller Global Procurement template into Africa – managing spend of $1bn – and delivered the highest value delivery with his team in the history of SABMiller Global Procurement at that time.

Under his leadership at CCBA-SA the logistics team has delivered exceptional productivity in the past 2 years and was awarded the prestigious MD’s People & Culture award in 2025.

Michael John Wilson

Finance Director

Michael started his working career at KPMG as a Manager and Trainee Accountant from 2002 until 2006. After completing his articles, his highest position held at KPMG was Audit Manager and Office Administration Manager. In 2006 to 2009, he worked at BASF South Africa (previously known as Engelhard South Africa), where he was appointed as Site Controller – Mobile Emissions Catalysts Division. He also served as a Team Leader for Finance when the company changed its ERP from JD Edwards to SAP. In 2009, Michael joined Coca-Cola Fortune (CCF) as Finance Manager – Business Support.

In 2015, he was assigned to the CCBA integration team as a Finance work stream member and later that year, Michael was appointed Finance Manager for Marketing, Sales and Distribution. Michael relocated to Windhoek, Namibia in January 2016 as Financial Director for Coca-Cola Beverages Namibia. In October 2017, Michael returned to Port Elizabeth as Group Financial Controller for CCBA, a position he currently holds. He serves on a number of boards and audit committees within the CCBA Group.

In 2000, Michael graduated with a B.Com (Accountancy) Degree from the University of Port Elizabeth and a year later, he completed his B. Com Honours (Accountancy) at the same university. He was admitted as a Chartered Accountant (CA) in 2005. In 2010, he completed his Executive Development Programme at the University of Stellenbosch Business School.

Agatha Masemola

Strategy and Performance Director

Agatha joined CCBSA in April 2020 from Absa Corporate and Investment Bank Africa, where she held various roles in the past nine years, including as Managing Principal for Strategy & Business Transformation and Chief of Staff to the Chief Executive of Barclays Africa Corporate Bank. She was a key figure in the build-out and integration of the Corporate Bank across 13 African markets.

Prior to joining Absa, Agatha was a Senior Management Consultant in Strategy and Innovation at Deloitte Consulting, South Africa. At Deloitte, Agatha worked on several executive-sponsored strategy and innovation projects across various sectors, as well as driving new business development. Prior to Deloitte, she worked in Life Sciences R&D for over ten years, both as a full-time researcher with publications in peer reviewed journals, and as a Portfolio Manager & COO for a biotechnology fund management, focusing on investment in early-stage biotech ventures and commercialisation.

Agatha holds a PhD in Medical Biochemistry from the University of Cape Town and has completed post-Doctoral research in South Africa and the USA. She obtained her BSc (Biochemistry and Physiology) and MSc (Biochemistry) from the University of the North. She completed a Management Advancement Programme at Wits Business School to help her transition from laboratory to business.

Agatha loves to travel and enjoys experiencing different cultures and sampling local cuisine.

Moses Lubisi

Manufacturing & Technical Director

Moses has over 20 years of extensive experience spanning various industries such as Sugar, Food and Beverages, and Mineral processing, including 15 years within the Coca-Cola system, Moses brings a wealth of knowledge to this role.

His journey within CCBSA has seen him excel in positions ranging from Plant Manager, Regional Manufacturing Manager (Coastal) in CCBSA to Executive Director for Appletiser (Pty) Ltd. Before returning to CCBA within Group Office, Moses served as an Operations Director at Illovo Sugar (Pty) Ltd. His expertise lies in strategy formulation, governance and execution, with a focus on end-to-end value chain orchestration across manufacturing, warehousing, logistics and supply chain management.

Moses has held senior and executive management roles for over six years, overseeing regional and enterprise-level strategies, assets and resource allocation.

Hannes Prinsloo

Country Sales Director

Hannes comes with a wealth of experience and strong commercial operations expertise stretching over 30 years within the Bottling system; truly an example of “home grown timber”.

In his most recent role, of General Manager Commercial, he managed the Revenue Growth, Route to Market, Category management, Channel Development and Knowledge and Insights. His previous experiences include that of General Manager Operations, District Manager and National Account Manager.

Among his career achievements, he counts being inducted as a Grand Master in 2021, which is a true testament to his passion for people, strong work ethic, and unwavering commitment to performance. The Masters are seasoned professionals in our core functions (Commercial, Logistics & Manufacturing) who have consistently delivered exceptional results in their 20-plus years of service in the organisation. CCBSA bestows its highest honour these professionals who have shown exemplary commitment, fortitude, passion, loyalty and most importantly, value-adding leadership.

In May 2023, at the annual Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) General Management Meeting (GMM) Awards, he was honoured to receive the CEO Award, which honours exceptional leadership that sets a clear example of consistently living our values. In his leisure time, Hannes follows a wide variety of debate platforms and sports.

Mkuseli Dlikilili

Human Resources Director

Mkuseli is a seasoned HR executive with more than 25 years in the FMCG sector. He has also held HR management roles in the chemical industry and state-owned enterprises. Prior to his appointment at CCBSA, Mkuseli was Group Executive, Human Resources, at Pioneer Foods. He also worked for leading South African organisations including Eskom, SAB, Dulux and Portnet.

At Pioneer Foods, he gained extensive mergers and acquisitions (M&A) experience and his career highlights include integrating SA Dried Fruits (Pty) Ltd and Ceres Fruit Juices (Pty) Ltd into Pioneer Foods Group, unbundling Craft Box Corrugated for sale to New Era Packaging (Pty) Ltd, integrating Moirs, Bowmans Ingredients and Savoury Foods into Bokomo Foods, the acquisition of the Sanitarium Cereals and Belso Cereals Limited to form Bokomo Foods UK, unbundling Todays Frozen Foods to merge with Heinz Foods SA, integrating Retail Brands InterAfrica (Pty) Ltd into The Ceres Beverages Company, unbundling Quantum Foods, and listing Pioneer Foods on the JSE.

His previous board experience includes serving on the Advisory Board of the University of Stellenbosch Business School, SA Dried Fruit (Pty) Ltd Board of Directors, and Ceres Fruit Juices (Pty) Ltd and its successor, The Ceres Beverages Company (Pty) Ltd, Board of Directors. Mkuseli has mentored many managers who have risen to be leaders in their respective fields and industries.

At CCBSA his accomplishments include merging and integrating six legacy entities to form CCBSA, achieving 50%+ Women in Leadership and maintaining it for four successive years, from 31% at CCBSA inception in July 2016; and crafting the CCBSA Diversity & Inclusion strategy and successfully delivering on its objectives. He was also instrumental in CCBSA achieving Level 1 B-BBEE recognition status and has received numerous Skills Development Awards from the FoodBev SETA.

Mkuseli is passionate about nurturing, developing and empowering people to realise their full potential. He is steadfast in his belief in human rights, accentuating human dignity, and socio- economic transformation. He describes himself as an authentic, courageous, resilient, humble, principled and values-based person, and a committed HR professional who believes in positive psychology.

He holds the following qualifications: MA Industrial and Organisational Psychology from University of Cape Town (UCT), B.Admin (Hons) Industrial Psychology from University of the Western Cape (UWC), Certified Director from the Institute of Directors SA (IoDSA), and
Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching from the Academy of Executive Coaching (AoEC).