Mkhuseli "Khusta" Jack (born 31 May 1958) is a South African politician, businessman and anti-apartheid activist. Jack currently serves as the chairperson of Build One South Africa. He previously served as the deputy mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay.
He was known in the 1980's for his involvement in the anti-apartheid struggle and his efforts in the Consumer Boycott Campaign. Currently he is a businessman in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Early life
Mkhuseli Jack was born on 31 May 1958, on the Mosskraal Farm in Humansdorp, a small town in one of the districts surrounding the Eastern Cape in South Africa. Born to Fikile and Alice Jack, he was the second youngest of eight children. At the age of six, Jack and his family moved to a farm in Klipdrift near Oyster Bay. There he attended the Anglican Slangriver Bantu School, where he completed Standard Four. He finished Standard Five and Six in a coastal town called Jeffreys Bay due to the lack of a permit he required to complete his schooling in Humansdorp. In 1975, he moved to Port Elizabeth to stay with his uncle. After being denied entrance to a school, Jack and other children in the same situation involved themselves in demonstrations, demanding an education. With the support of local organisations he managed to enroll in a school in 1975. Before matriculating in 1982 at Cowan High School, Jack completed Standard Seven and Eight at Loviso Secondary School. While still at school, from 1979 to 1980, he was arrested several times, once during the 1980 school boycotts.
Early engagement in politics
Mkhuseli Jack only learned about the system of apartheid in South Africa when he moved to the city of Port Elizabeth to continue his high school education. The Apartheid laws had prevented him from enrolling in a school, but co-operating with local organisations he managed to enroll in 1975, where he developed as a leader amongst his peers. Later, he helped create and lead the Port Elizabeth Youth Congress, part of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and became involved in the emerging civic movement. Jack helped form the United Democratic Front on 20 August 1983. It was an Umbrella Organization composed of trade unions, women's groups and youth organisations. The UDF coordinated these groups, while focusing on sorting out problems in the Port Elizabeth area.
The United Democratic Front initially gained attention through low-key, non-violent acts of defiance such as rent boycotts and labour strikes. Its members encouraged people to get involved in problems that afflicted them directly. The organisation's motto was: "Well support you in what concerns you and you can support us in what concerns us." The interests of the organisation essentially ran parallel to those of the people it worked with. Via the support they offered, they were in turn able to gain the faith and support of those they had helped.
At this time, while Jack was active in the South African Students Movement (SASM) and the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), he came in contact with Barney Pityana a human rights lawyer and South-African theologian. Mkhuseli Jack's relation to Barney Pityana shaped his early political views and career.