Zanoxolo Goodman Wayile

Childhood
Zanoxolo (isiXhosa meaning: 'To bring peace') Goodman Wayile was born 21st of October 1964, an interesting period of South African history during which the Rivonia Trial of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Raymond Mhlaba and others occurred. Zanoxolo is the eldest of eight children born in the Paterson area, in the Eastern Cape Province. These were challenging times for his parents, whose father was a general farm labourer and his mother a domestic worker. Exploitation and racial prejudice was the order of the day and given these conditions, the Wayile family had to migrate to Bushmans River, known in isiXhosa as Masele, near Port Alfred. The land occupied by the family then, was owned by a Coloured family, who leased plots to families who migrated from neighbouring farms. The Wayile family, like many other African families of that period became subjected to forced removals, introduced by the notorious Koornhof Bill. The family was forcibly moved to Glenmore, a semi-rural and underdeveloped area between Grahamstown and Peddie. These were defining moments in the life of Zanoxolo, being exposed at a tender age to child labour due to his father obtaining employment at the Railways in Port Elizabeth, which was a major employer of cheap black labour in that period. Due to the impact of the distance between Zanoxolo's father and the rest of the family, it was decided that he attend school in Port Elizabeth, in order to be closer to his father. This came as a relief, given the distances that Zanoxolo had to walk to primary school with his other siblings, which was up to 25 to 30 km per day.

Schooling / Youth Activism
Zanoxolo attended Kwezi Lomso High School in Zwide Township, Port Elizabeth. This also came at a time of political turmoil in communities such as Veeplaas, where political consciousness ran high and underground cells of the ANC were recruiting and mobilizing people to resist the cruel and brutal policies of apartheid. Due to his responsibility to his parents and family, Zanoxolo had to continue informal work to sustain the family, while simultaneously being involved in school boycotts and other social development and community mobilization activities.

Wayile, as he is fondly known, became an active member of COSAS (Congress of South African Students), the SAYCO (South African Youth Congress), and PEYCO (Port Elizabeth Youth Congress), then under the leadership of the late Councillor Nyakonzima Koliti. Unknowingly, Wayile's exposure to the urban conditions he experienced ignited his youth activism. He also became actively involved in, PEBCO, and the UDF (United Democratic Front). This was a critical period in South African politics – the Apartheid regime enacted States of Emergency, changed the constitution to grant more power to Botha, introduced the Tricameral system, and sought to legitimise Black local authorities. All of these moves were vehemently resisted by the democratic forces led by the ANC/UDF.

Wayile found himself participating and coordinating consumer boycotts. He joined the Self Defence Unit, whose task it was to defend local communities against vigilante groups, influenced by the then Nationalist Party Security Branch to foment violence in Black communities. An outstanding memoir from the period was Wayile's involvement in his local street and area committee under PEBCO, who demanded: “One City, One Municipality and one single tax base.” On the dusty roads of Veeplaas, Wayile became a young political activist with the ideal of creating change in a community plagued by poverty and various other social ills. He became an active member of the first branch of the South African Communist Party to be established in Veeplaas. In the early 1990's, Wayile was part of the then unbanned African National Congress Youth League.

Exposure to Labour and Learning
In 1988, Zanoxolo Wayile obtained employment at Continental Tyres as a Machine Operator. In 1995, he was elected as Shop Steward for the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) at Continental Tyres. In 1997, he was elected as a Full-time Shop Steward. Representing workers and promoting worker rights came to him as water to a fish. The early exposure of unfair labour practices endured in his childhood, developed a passion to ensure the conditions of ordinary workers were well protected, and their quality of life beyond the factory gates were improved. For Wayile this also signified a period of learning through NUMSA's organizational structures and its rich organizational knowledge base. Wayile rose through the ranks of NUMSA by becoming its Local Chairperson, Central Executive Committee Member representing the Eastern Cape and playing a key role in the Tyre Negotiations Team for over ten years. Wayile also became Chairperson of COSATU and representative of the Central Executive Committee. At the peak of his activism in COSATU, he was nominated in 2006's COSATU National Congress as a candidate to the Presidency, of which he lost by 40 votes to Willie Madisha. During the same year (2006) Wayile was nominated as a Proportional Representation (PR) Councillor in Nelson Mandela Bay. His activism continued in the South African Communist Party, of which he remains a Branch Executive Committee Member of Veeplaas Branch, and serves on the Provincial Executive Committee. He also serves as an ANC Branch Executive Committee Member of Veeplaas and KwaMaqxaki and Deputy Regional Chairperson of the African National Congress in Nelson Mandela Bay.

Zanoxolo Wayile is happily married to Sezeka, with 3 children, Thembani, Ncumisa, and Thimna. His passion remains to ensure that the ordinary man on the street's quality of life is improved.

Professional Details

 * Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality Executive Mayor: November 2009 to present
 * Continental Tyre: 1988 to 2009
 * Full time shop steward: 1997 to 2009
 * PR Councillor: 2006 to 2009