Mr Tshangana is an accomplished executive manager who started his career as a Deputy Director: Municipal Finance Policy at the erstwhile Department of Provincial and Local Government in 1999. It was not long before his expertise was recognised by the Development Bank of Southern African where he joined them as a Local Government Specialist, Project Manager: Work Out Unit in the Group Risk Division and ultimately as Regional Manager for the Development Fund between 2003 to 2007.

From DBSA he joined the Department of Local Government and Housing in the Western Cape as Deputy Director-General: Operations, responsible for managing performance. It was not long before he was appointed as the Head of Department in 2010 responsible for managing and driving the implementation of the provincial human settlements strategy and departmental five-year plan, facilitation of the development of economically viable, socially and environmentally sustainable and integrated human settlements, amongst others.

It was during this time that he came to the attention of the National Department of Human Settlements and was subsequently recruited to the position of Deputy Director-General: Programme Management Unit in 2013 and ultimately promoted to be the Director-General in 2016. In May 2019, Mr Tshangana, in an unprecedented move, was appointed the Acting Director-General in the Department of Water and Sanitation whilst retaining his position at human settlements. The two Departments were under one Ministry at the time, a move he describes “as the biggest assignment of my life”.

In 2023, he joined the Department of Cooperative Governance as the Director-General where he plays a pivotal role in shaping national policies and strategies related to local government, intergovernmental relations, and cooperative governance. He oversees the implementation of key initiatives aimed at strengthening governance structures, promoting citizen participation, and ensuring efficient service delivery across all levels of government.

He holds a Masters of Arts in Population and Development Studies from the Institute of Social Studies in the Netherlands and an Honours Degree in Development Studies from the University of the Western Cape.