Councillor Vusumuzi Cyril Xaba was raised in Clermont, west of Durban in 1967. Councillor Xaba engaged in politics at a very young age and has served in public office almost the whole of his adult life. There was no way he could have escaped politics, as Clermont was a place associated with black people’s resistance for the repressive apartheid regime.

Early life and education

Councillor Xaba attended Ziphathele High School, where he matriculated in 1986 and the following year, he went on to enrol for a BA Law degree at the then University of Durban-Westville. In 1988, he studied for a full-year Community Service Training Programme certificate at the University of Natal. The following year, he studied for a B. Proc degree from the same university and graduated in 1992. While studying, Councillor Xaba continued to be politically active. He also boasts a Master of Laws (LLB) degree, which he attain from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2014. 

Other qualifications he possesses include a three-weeks course on Macro Economic Principles from Williams College Centre for Development Economics in 2001 and a Certificate on Principles of Effective Legislature Oversight by the Association of Public Accounts Committee (3 Days Module) in 2001.