But all this hardened him into a risk-taker and has seen him become a successful businessman. With no professional qualifications to boast about, the Gweru-born Mkhwanazi is now the director of JT Glass and Aluminium, a company that designs and manufactures building materials.
Passion, determination and hard work drove him there.
“I was born in Mkoba 5, Gweru and was sixth in a family of 10 children. Unlike some of our peers, who got things on a silver platter, we had to struggle to get food, clothes and school fees. At some point, it felt like a curse to be myself during childhood. I used to be ridiculed, scorned and stigmatised just because of my poor background, hence my resolve to work towards being successful later in life,” he said in a recent interview.
Like anyone starting from scratch, boulders had to be pushed along the way. Mkhwananzi’s pursuit for academic excellence was prematurely ended when he failed to get money for school fees. This forced him out of Glen Norah High 1 before he could write his O Level exams.
“If things had gone according to my plan, I would have become a detective because I was really passionate about that, but I failed to get to the required academic level,” he said.
“After dropping out of school, I was briefly employed at a textile and clothing company in Southerton, but that did not work out because I became one of the many victims of tribalism from management. The scourge was rife back then and I had to move on, joining Fawcett as a security guard in Bulawayo in 1996.”
Besides earning very little, Zimbabwean security guards do not usually get the respect they deserve, from both the public or the companies that employ them, so it was aluta continua in Mkhwanazi’s pursuit of a better life.
The struggle for survival saw him join those trying to eke a living through unorthodox means, when he briefly joined hundreds of gold panners in Fort Rixon, Insiza.
Living on the other side of the same law he once felt the urge to protect did not feel right for him, so in 2003, he joined the great trek to neighbouring South Africa, risking life and limb in the crocodile-infested Limpopo River.
“On arrival in Johannesburg, I worked at various places, before I got employed with a glass and aluminium company, where I learned how to manufacture window frames and door frames,” he said.
“Having saved enough, I started my own company that does the same thing in 2009 and it has recorded phenomenal growth since then. I have had clients coming from as far as Cape Town to make orders.”
The construction industry keeps growing in South Africa and that has meant one thing for the Zimbabwean businessman – continuing growth and more sub-contracts.
““With the way I have done in the business so far, I can only promise more and more growth and foresee a very good future for my two children – one better than the manner in which I was brought up.”
His roots are still very important to him, and Mkhwanazi has made sure that his company employs as many Zimbabweans as possible.
“I faced challenges trying to get work here and that made me realise the importance of looking after one’s countrymen in this foreign land. Zimbabweans also work very hard and do not take long to learn, so I have made sure that they are always catered for in this company. Besides, the time shall come when we have to return home and we must have more qualified people taking up various jobs there, so I also train them.”
Although he was a victim of political violence at the hands of President Robert Mugabe’s youth militia, who tortured him back home, he has not made a meal out of that.
“I am a victim of harassment from green bombers, but I am ready to forgive my enemies and help build a united Zimbabwe for the future generation,” he said.
Post published in: News