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Sasol appoints EVP: People, SHE, Risk and Corporate Affairs
Sasol has announced the appointment of Thabile Makgala as Executive Vice President (EVP): People, SHE, Risk and Corporate Affairs. She joins Sasol on 1 October 2025.
An Inspirational Women in Mining and Harvard Business School alumni, Thabile will join Sasol from Rio Tinto, where she currently serves as the Vice President for Health, Safety, Environment, Security, Communities and Risk for Rio Tinto’s global minerals product group Operations.
Before joining Rio Tinto, she served with commensurate success at Impala Platinum as a mining executive where she delivered record safety and productivity performance at the Marula Platinum mine.
Thabile has over 20 years’ global experience operating in the gold, coal, diamond, iron ore, mineral sands and platinum sectors across both operations and technical services, and is a champion for greater equity in the mining sector. She played a leading role in driving transformation in the sector, having served as Chairperson of Women in Mining South Africa, where she championed diversity and the advancement of women in mining.
Thabile holds a BSc Mining Engineering Degree from the University of Witwatersrand, an MBA, Business Strategy from the University of Stellenbosch Business School and completed Harvard Business School’s Senior Executive Program – Africa.
Following distinguished careers at Sasol—Hermann Wenhold, EVP for Mining Risk and SHE, with over 36 years of service, and Charlotte Mokoena, EVP for Human Resources and Corporate Affairs, with eight years of dedicated leadership—both executives will retire in early 2026, enabling a smooth and well-planned transition of leadership.
Simon Baloyi, President and CEO, Sasol. “On behalf of Sasol, I would like to thank Hermann and Charlotte for their dedication and outstanding contributions to Sasol over the years, leaving a legacy on which we are proud to continue. I am delighted to have an executive of Thabile’s calibre join my executive team and look forward to having her as part of Team Sasol.”
