Zwelibanzi Mekuto was elected Community Advisor at the Founding Meeting of the South African Business Party held at Somerset West on 8 November 2005.    Zwelibanzi Jeremiah Mekuto was born on 21 April 1956 in Keiskammahoek, a small farming town in the Ciskei region of the Eastern Cape.    Keiskammahoek suffered as much as any community under apartheid (please install RealPlayer to listen to this link) but it was never used as a dumping ground for forced removal victims. Consequently, Keiskammahoek was able to develop and grow undisturbed as a community with a strong sense of belonging and traditional pride.    When Zwelibanzi was five years of age, he moved with his parents to Kwa-Thema, Springs. He attended Masimini School there and then Fudukani School for several years.

	When he was in Standard 6 (Form 8), Zwelibanzi's mother passed away. His father took him back to Keiskammahoek, where Zwelibanzi attended school in Standard 6 and 7 at Ekwezi Lentaba. In the afternoons, after school, Zwelibanzi used to collect water from the river, wash and iron his school clothes, look after his grandmother's goats and cows, and cook the family meal.    Due to family pressures and the need to help the family earn a living, Zwelibanzi moved to Durban and worked at the Natal Collieries as a Shift Clerk.    Two years later, Zwelibanzi obtained a better position in Springs as a Laboratory Tester at Impala Platinum where he worked for 5 years.    In 1982, Zwelibanzi returned to Keiskammahoek for the uKweluka tradition (ceremonial circumcision and entry to manhood).    In 1983, he moved to the Western Cape in search of a better future.    In 1984, he was stabbed by gangsters while on his way home from work one day, and nearly lost his life.    Zwelibanzi worked as a Griller in a restaurant in Somerset West and subsequently for BMW for 7 years.    He is the proud father of only 1 child, a daughter, who was born to him in 1995.    Zwelibanzi started and ran his own photography business for 5 years in which he photographed people and sold the pictures to them.    In 1993, Zwelibanzi met Tony Last, and the two men worked together over the ensuing years on various projects, including marketing, administration and maintenance.    They now pool their skills and experience together with the other members, supporters and volunteers of the SABP in order to make a success of the Party's mission, to help business help the people.    Zwelibanzi says: The cow is already dead. The cow Mandela fought for. But only the top guys are getting the meat. Why don't the others get any meat? The top guys don't think about the people. But the people also fought to be free. And now we are not free. The top guys are only concerned with themselves. The people must think about that.
Nelson Mandela  Listen to the story (13 minutes) - from the Soweto uprising to Mandela's release (1976-1990)  (Please install RealPlayer to listen to the above.)