Johannesburg, October 2025 – Meropa Communications, the longest-established PR agency in the country, has announced executive leadership changes within its Board of Directors. Living its transformation on the consulting floor, the Level 1 reputation management agency welcomes Siphokazi Sigenu as an executive director. Sigenu becomes head of the agency’s Public Affairs division.

Sigenu joined Meropa in 2023, immediately making an impact on clients in the public and private sector. “Consulting with purpose, she drove change and impressed with her ambitious drive to make a difference – both within the agency and our clients,” says Patrick Gearing, CEO of Meropa. “We’re delighted to welcome her to the board and look forward to her challenging our business.”

Meropa is a proudly independent agency, defined by their leadership working actively in the business. “It’s part of our DNA and commitment to clients to consult at owner level,” says Yolisa Pasipanodya, Managing Director of Meropa. “Our board of six directors all work actively in the agency every day, invested in our own and our clients’ success. We find strength in our diversity with an ability to stress-test strategy, positioning and messaging across our representative team.”

Pasipanodya is excited for Sigenu’s fresh and forward thinking to continue evolving the agency’s capacity and offering to remain ahead of the exciting communications revolution. “Audience demands are shifting, brands behave differently, and reputation is judged by authentic purpose,” says Pasipanodya. “Siphokazi has an incredible journey to navigate.”

Two more changes to Meropa’s board include the retirement of PR stalwart, Yogin Devan and healthcare specialist, Maria Djordjevic. Devan retires from running Meropa’s Durban office whilst Djordjevic will continue consulting to the agency and its clients in a specialist capacity as Head of Healthcare.

“I am honoured to be at the epicentre of Meropa’s continued success and look forward to shaping growth strategies for the agency and our clients,” says Sigenu. “Most of all, I’m thrilled to mould young talent to embrace our changing landscape.”

“South Africa’s public sector has so many great successes to share,” says Sigenu. “Public interest initiatives hold massive potential for the country and need guidance to ensure implementation and ultimate success. We look forward to being part of many of those programmes and contributing to change.”

Meropa is a full-service, national PR and reputation management agency with around 50 consultants across private and public sector client portfolios. It is a member of Worldcom, a partnership of independent agencies, providing clients with access to over 2,000 communications professionals in 105 cities in 39 countries.