Kgotso Mongalo, mine manager at Canyon Coal’s Singani Colliery in Middelburg, is an inspiration for poor South Africans who have high career and life ambitions, but face big challenges in realising their potential

Born the second child and first son to a poor family in Alexandra township in 1971, he completed his schooling in Bochum, Limpopo, after his family had moved to the rural area in 1980. Kgotso had aspired to become a gynecologist, but did not have the means to attend university. And as the eldest son in his family, he was pressed to find a job to help support his siblings.

“So, I did any work I could find, starting with driving taxis in Tembisa, before joining a construction firm and an electrical company,” says Kgotso. In 2007, he jumped at the chance to join Canyon Coal as a weighbridge supervisor and gave the job everything he had.

“Once I have something in my hands, I hold onto it with both of them,” he says, the passion in his voice unmistakable. He cups his hands: “I will never let it fall.”

On the Hakhano Colliery site where he began his mining career with Canyon Coal, he explains that his resolve stems from the fact that he does not have a tertiary education and therefore wants to make the most of what career opportunities come his way.

Kgotso received his first promotion in the company when he became mine supervisor at Hakhano in 2009. This served as a great incentive and heralded a period of intensive growth. He completed ten short courses in mining-related activities over his five years in the job role. Canyon Coal supported him all the way.

“I was dead set on becoming a mine manager from the day I became supervisor,” he says. “I asked the company to send me on courses and, as Canyon Coal expanded, it sent me for training in blasting, mining, safety, stockpile management and so on.”

The big opportunity to put his new skills to the test came in 2011, when Kgotso stepped into the position of acting mine manager at Hakhano, after a colleague went on compassionate leave. His good performance in this job paved the way for his appointment as mine manager of Singani Colliery in 2014.

“The promotion to mine manager came at the right time, because I wanted to test my abilities at this point to find out whether I could do the job. I am happy to say that I’ve never looked back.”

Kgotso has risen through the ranks because of his eagerness to learn and the company’s commitment to investing in its staff as it grows. Smiling warmly, he says he had seen the company’s potential to develop from the outset and decided to stay with it for this reason.

“I witnessed how Canyon Coal made the transition from buying and selling coal to operating coalmines and realised that this company was only going to continue growing. I wanted to grow with it,” he adds.

Testament to Kgotso’s success is Singani Colliery’s reaching a new monthly mining record of 146 820 tonnes in November last year. “When we started mining at Singani, the team produced 90 000 tonnes per month. Then we lifted production to 120 000 and again to 135 000 tonnes. Now we’ve achieved a new high of 150 000 tonnes. This was possible only through teamwork.”

He stands on the edge of the colliery’s open pit and explains that his onsite success is the result of the egalitarian management style he learned while growing up in Bochum’s Indermark village.

“This was a place where people respected one another and held each other accountable.” My approach to leading my team is by sitting down with people and helping them resolve any of their challenges in their native tongue. This is how I earn their respect.”

Not only has Canyon Coal helped Kgotso forge a rewarding and fulfilling career in mining, it has also made his family prosper, with the family’s living standards having improved beyond expectation.

Executive chairman Vuslat Bayoglu visited Singani when the mine reached its new production record and asked Kgotso whether he was ready to step into the position of general manager.

“I was too shy to respond at the time, but in my mind’s eye I do see myself as GM. My objective is to become a general manager for the company within the next seven years.”