Mxolisi Hoboyi is on a mission to give back to the community that nurtured him.

Hav­ing been born in Mbutho vil­lage in the dusty out­skirts of Tsolo 47 years ago, the former mine­worker-turned-min­ing mogul has made it his mis­sion to help res­id­ents of his beloved home area by plough­ing back through a series of robust com­munity ini­ti­at­ives.

Hoboyi, the young­est of 10 chil­dren, was only nine years old when his father, Nani, a retired school­teacher, died in 1985.

 

 

“It was the com­munity of Mbutho, eld­erly men who played the role of a father fig­ure, dis­cip­lin­ing me if I went astray, instilling moral val­ues and respect, and applaud­ing me on my achieve­ments,” he said.

“In an African con­text, your child is my child. Teach­ers also instilled dis­cip­line in me and shaped me for the future, hence now I am plough­ing back to the com­munity that raised me,” he said.

Hoboyi is also part­ner­ing with vari­ous tra­di­tional lead­ers in devel­op­ing their com­munit­ies.

“I am shar­ing the little I have with the needy,” he said.

Since both of his par­ents were school teachers, he reck­ons he could have enrolled in the best schools in the coun­try.

But it was his mother, Mar­garet, 88, who insisted he should attend school in his vil­lage of birth.

“My par­ents had all the means, but while chil­dren of other teach­ers were school­ing in town, my mother decided that I should be school­ing in Mbutho so that I could feel and under­stand the suf­fer­ing of Mbutho.

“I know and exper­i­enced poverty and suf­fering,” Hoboyi said.

His father retired in 1976, the year Hoboyi was born. He then became a tra­di­tional leader until his death.

Des­pite spend­ing most of his time in Mpumalanga and Johan­nes­burg, Hoboyi and his wife Simanye, were back at Mbutho last week, donat­ing 126 blankets to eld­erly people.