About Our Founder

My name is Phumelele Kwayimani, the son of Rojas and Ntomboxolo Kwayimani. I was born and grew up in Ginsberg, a small township a stone’s throw from eQonce, also known as King Williams Town. Ginyizembe as it was affectionately called during my youth is known for being the hometown of the well known and Iconic Apartheid Activist Steve Biko.

I enjoy the outdoors, and for as long I can remember always felt at home in the bush. Growing up as a young boy I prefered being out hunting sometimes alone while my peers preferred kicking ball and playing cricket. My parents were township entrepreneurs, and we grew up in a household where everyone was expected to help run the businesses.

My mother in particular was business driven, and from my childhood up until adultwood she was always in business selling this or that. If it was not live chickens, it was bankents from Durban,  oranges from Fort Beaufort or Potatoes from Elliot. When I was in Primary – High School she had a spaza shop until the arrival of foreign nationals in our township in the 90’s.

I remember when I was about 7 years old we sold onions and tomatoes in the village of eKrwakrwa, walking from one street to the next with a basket on your head and singing “Akumnandi ukuthengisa ngoba sofumana itumata netswele”.

And in indeed as a method of payment my mother would cook for us what we call ‘Bisto’ or Smoor made of onions and tomatoes. To have such a meal in those days was a real  privilege, it was like eating out at a restaurant.

On the side I was raising pigeons my father bought for me. And at 14 years I had so many chickens, I didn’t have enough space for them. I’ve always been around animals, and studying Horticulture at Cape Peninsula University of Technology 24 years ago brought me even closer to fauna and flora.

My grandmother Mankala had cattle she inherited from her late husband my grandfather Tamkhulu uSandi. That is when I got the first glimpse of Ngunis. During school holidays my mother would sometimes send us to the village. I absolutely enjoyed holidays at my granmas homestead.

My grandmother’s cattle had names Witpens, Nongqawuse, Nondwangu, and so on. Mankala was well  known in some parts of the Eastern Cape for her work as Igqirhakazi. She was a well respected Healer.

I used to watch u bhut’Sukwini milk the cattle. I was forever curious, and would ask him a lot of questions particularly about cattle. Sukwini was the gentleman who collected medicinal plants from the forest for my grandmother. He was also my grannies herdman. He taught me a lot about farming, hunting and medicinal plants uses.