Segoale sets out to change PPECB’s ‘civil service’ culture

Ray Smuts THABI SEGOALE - the first black appointed to senior PPECB management - realises full well his focus lies in changing a long-held mindset within the organisation. The 30-year-old, head-hunted from Bokomo Feeds to fill the position of operations manager, comes from a strong entrepreneurial background and asserts he was soon able to detect what needed to be done. “I was able to pick up very quickly a civil service type of approach as many employees worked for government for years. What we have to do is change their mindset and get them to buy into the notion that the PPECB has to be run like a real business responding to certain needs.” Segoale, who was general manager of Bokomo and about to be offered a directorship when he decided to join the PPECB in search of a new challenge, says his focus this year will also rest on closing the “growing gap” between clients’ service requirements and the capacity of existing infrastructure to provide those services. Born in Pietersburg. Segoale completed part of his high schooling in the United States and thereafter obtained a BSc and Hons in Agriculture at the University of Fort Hare. As to his acceptance into a traditionally white and predominantly Afrikaans-speaking organisation, Segoale says there have been no problems at all, which he attributes to interpersonal skills on his part.