Knott-Craig jnr walks out of Mxit

In a dramatic turn of events, Alan Knott-Craig jnr has quit as CEO of Mxit.

"Though the shareholders and I share the same vision, we differ on how to get there. Therefore I agreed to go my own way," Knott-Craig said.

He would not be drawn further on the issue, a spokesman said.

Mxit, which calls itself Africa's largest mobile social network, says its investors are ploughing R100-million into it.

Francois Swart, the current chief financial officer, will be interim CEO. The company will recruit a new CEO and other executives to drive its expansion, it said.

"Staff were told today. The shareholders said that Mxit was South Africa's biggest tech success story, in no small part due to Knott-Craig's involvement and vision over the past year," it said.

"Mxit has a window of opportunity and is pursuing aggressive growth by increasing the user base in Africa through partners in targeted African countries."

Knott-Craig bought Mxit from Naspers and Mxit founder Herman Heunis, through his company World of Avatar for an undisclosed amount in September last year.

Much of Mxit's profile and growth in the past year has been credited to Knott-Craig, a tech entrepreneur in his own right who was previously CEO of iBurst.

He is the son of Cell C CEO Alan Knott-Craig snr.