This year the Phil Weber Award, the group’s highest accolade for performance, went to previous general counsel, André Coetzee and Gerdus van Eeden, CEO of video-entertainment broadcast technology.

In making the award, the chair noted that Coetzee’s legal nous, coupled with a deep understanding of the group, contributed to many a complicated international transaction that created the modern Naspers.

Van Eeden was honoured for his technical innovations, such as the revolutionary high-definition personal video recorder, or PVR. This now stands in millions of homes across Africa and led to the DStv Explora, which won the Global Consumer Innovation Award in 2014.

The 2015 Chairman’s Award for the person going the extra mile was presented to Gerald Petersen of NB Publishers. According to his colleagues, Petersen acted as the face of NB Publishers for 30 years, building his role of messenger into that of brand ambassador with dignity and resourcefulness.

Each year Naspers awards the Order of Tafelberg to an outstanding business partner. The 2015 award went to Irna van Zyl, an icon in the South African publishing industry and editorial director of New Media, the award-winning publishing house she built.

Bekker also thanked the group’s employees for their superb contribution to results for the year.

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