Mr. S’dumo Dlamini was born in a rural village of Nsthingila Hlatsikhulu in Swaziland on 2 March 1966.  He moved to South Africa with his aunt at a young age. He started schooling at the age of seven, in 1973, at Magugu Higher Primary in Ingwavuma, Kwa - Zulu -Natal Province. He attended Ingwavuma High School in 1980 and finished his matriculation in 1984.  

During this period of high school education, the early signs of his activism were seen when he led a strike by learners, and it was during this period that a brave activist and a champion for social justice was born. 

He later completed his studies as a nurse at Mosvold Hospital and rose to the highest and respected position in the health profession. He served as NEHAWU Shop Steward at Mshiyeni hospital and proved to be an effective leader and a gifted negotiator and as a result worker assigned him the task of being a provincial leader of NEHAWU- KZN.

Because of his shrewd and yet effective negotiation in 2000, this tried and tested leader was elected a COSATU provincial chairperson, served two terms and was elected to a third term in July 2006 to be later elected 1st Deputy President at the ninth national congress of COSATU. 

He also served in the PEC, PWC as a member of the SACP since 2000 and 2003. During all this period he remained a loyal member of the ANC which he had formally joined in 1990 and participates in its community programmes served at all levels of the trade union movement. 

Given his consistent and profound leadership qualities, workers assigned him the responsibility of serving as an acting president and he was later elected as a President of COSATU. This is a position he held with dignity until he decided on his own to leave the federation to allow for a new and young leadership to take over. 

Even as a president of COSATU, he remained humble and grounded in working class and community struggles. This earned him respect within the ranks of the ANC led movement and the branches of the ANC elected him as a member of the NEC, a role he continues to play with passion and diligence to this day.

Following the victory of the ANC in the 2019 general Elections, this organic intellectual, this strategist who rose in the ranks of the movement based on being humble and principled with clarity of thought, served as a Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Land and Rural development in the 6th Administration of an ANC led government.

In August 2021 , Mr. Sidumo Dlamini was appointed to serve as Deputy Minister of Small Business Development, a responsibility that continues to place him directly at the service of the ordinary people and of getting the economy to respond to the needs  and challenges facing ordinary people.