Vusi Kweyama — Biography

Today: Although only 33 years old, Vusi Kweyama has made a notable difference in the lives of many young people. His biography highlights his activities and accomplishments over the years, from adolescence to adulthood.

At the age of 15, Vusi was found guilty of shoplifting, for which he received a three-year suspended sentence. For the next eight years, he would be in out of South African prisons with convictions for housebreaking and theft, robbery, and carbreaking and theft. During those eight years of incarceration, Vusi escaped three times from two youth detention centres.

Vusi’s last time in prison was in 2002. Incarcerated in Westville prison after being accused of “house breaking and theft,” his fellow perpetrator was sentenced to two years imprisonment while Vusi was found “not guilty” and released. Within two weeks, Vusi enrolled in a “life skills programme” coordinated by World Changers Academy (WCA) in South Africa. (The purpose of a life skills programme is to help people learn necessary skills to live more successfully and function better in their multiple roles as members of a family, community, and workforce.) Ironically, ex-convict Kweyama was less interested in improving his life — his intention was to steal WCA’s computers. Fortunately, Vusi found significant value and need for this life skills programme. Thanks to it, his life was radically transformed by the courses’ teachings on Vision and Purpose.
Out of 100 students, Vusi was awarded a “Best Student” award in this life skills programme. Upon completing the course in 2002, Vusi started Light Providers Youth Club, an organization designed to expose young people to their inherent potential, while shaping and nurturing tomorrow’s leaders. After inviting young people to join Light Providers, he offered them soccer training. During their training period, he taught them, once a week, the same important life skills that he learned from World Changers, such as vision, goals setting, relationships, conflict resolution and settlement, basic business skills, and effective communication. He also invited ex-convicts to his grandfather’s house to teach them the importance of vision in their future. During this transformation process Vusi became a very strong believer in God. In addition, his spiritual mentor and pastor, Sizwe Mthembu, played an integral role in Vusi's spiritual development.

In May, he was asked by WCA to manage its training centre, coordinate its life skills programme, and oversee those computers that he wanted to steal a year earlier. For three years, Vusi coordinated life skills courses for high school students and the unemployed, training hundreds of people in the Valley of 1000 Hills at the base of Durban, South Africa. He was also awarded “The Most Improved Student” award in a WCA leadership course. All along, Vusi conducted a number of speaking engagements in prisons and high schools and spoke with magistrates and prosecutors about providing life skills as an alternative-sentencing option.

Vusi enrolled in a learnership programme offered by WESSA (Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa), in partnership with Drumbeat Academy. Passing its course exams earned him a formal qualification in provincial cultural tour guiding. (A “learnership” is a work-based education and training programme that is linked to a qualification that is registered on the National Qualifications Framework with the South African Qualifications Authority.)

That year, he coordinated a month-long life skills course that aired on the radio, affecting thousands of listeners. He also started a car-wash business, as well as a restaurant that employed 5 local people. During the year, Vusi also became the director of Vuk’ Africa Tours and Training (a cultural tourism organisation) of which he currently holds that position.


WCA’s training centre was handed over to Vusi’s organization, Light Providers. Later that year, Vusi officially became Light Providers’ director. Also in 2006, Vusi took a correspondence course and passed the “metric/year 12.” Later in the year, he became a board member of The Valley of a Thousand Hills Tourism Association. In addition, he was invited to national conferences on “Combating the Strategies for Prison Overcrowding” and was asked to share his experiences and insight on alternative sentencing. The judge who coordinated the conference felt that Vusi’s talk was valuable and well received.

Vusi went to Northern Zululand to establish a life skills programme in partnership with Tholulwazi Uzivikele (a local nonprofit organisation working with AIDS orphans) and Kingdom Life Centre, his home church. In a 10-week period, he trained 78 people for life skills, facilitating and establishing a high school programme. From this group, he trained 10 young, passionate individuals who have gone on to coordinate life-skills courses for more than 700 people in this rural community. Also in 2007, Vusi attained a diploma in community development, through Education, Training, and Development Practices’ “Sector Education and Training Authority” (ETDP-SETA) programme.

Vusi enrolled on a 6-month, disciple-school training course with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Northern Ireland. There, he spoke in schools and churches and, on a class assignment, spoke at a big community event called Summer Madness. When the YWAM course ended, Vusi traveled to America for 3 weeks. While visiting Indianapolis, Indiana, he spent time with the Loving South Africa organization for which he conducted a few speaking engagements. His next visit took him to Arnold, California, where he spoke at local churches. Before heading home, Vusi accepted an invitation from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and spoke to inmates in medium- and maximum-security prisons.

After turning 30, Vusi became a university student! Earning a Monash University Fund for Education in Southern Africa (MUFESA) scholarship, he’s now enrolled at Monash University, studying to earn a BA degree, majoring in criminology and criminal justice, with a double major in international studies (politics). While in his first semester at university, Vusi founded Significant Impact Agency, which is something of a youth parliament that seeks to help governments around Africa implement their developmental action programmes. Having previously earned the position of deputy chairperson of the Valley of a Thousand Hills Association, Vusi was forced to resign so he could begin his university studies at Monash.


Indeed, no longer prisoner, Vusi Kweyama’s life has changed for the good over the past nine years. His challenging experiences and his attention to education have given him a passion to work to help transform individual lives, as well as whole communities, helping to rid them of poverty and provide them with opportunities to exercise their full potential.

Recognizing the measure of development that Africa has been going through, Vusi believes that his university education will equip him with essential tools. Combining these tools with his familiarity of a variety of communities’ desire and willingness to improve, Vusi is eager to improve the lives of the disadvantaged and downtrodden, throughout the world.