Sidumo Dlamini was born in a very rural village of Ntshingila Hlatsikhulu in Swaziland on the 22nd March 1966. He started schooling in 1973 at Magugu HP Ingwavuma at the age of seven years and proceeded to Ingwavuma High School in 1980 and finished his matric in 1984. His first taste of the bitter end of the apartheid system was when he was forced to abandon his SiSwati language as he would not be accepted at school so he had to learn to speak Zulu before school. In 1984 He was one of the ring leaders of the first strike at high school challenging corporal punishment and the system of education and the abuse of the school fund and fees. Only to discover months later that the strike had been spearheaded by the ANC underground operatives when many of his fellow comrades were arrested and detained for almost a year. He was only 17 years old. In 1986 to 1988 he did his training as a pupil nurse. The first in the area where only woman were known to be nurses. Failing to find a job he moved to Durban and got a job at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in the KwaZulu government where the IFP (Inkatha Freedom Party) reigned. He later studied for diploma in General Nursing and Midwifery. This institution was the backbone and the source of the notorious black on black violence led by the IFP. Where the workers fought tough battles against the system and many were killed he had to join NEHAWU (National Education Health and Allied Workers Union) after they had embarked on an illegal strike in September 1990. He was elected a Shop Steward on the 3rd and led 6 major strikes in that Institution. He has led NEHAWU at a Branch or Regional Level as Chairperson and. In 2000 He was elected COSATU Provincial Chairperson, served two terms and elected to a Third Term in July 2006 to be later elected 1st Deputy President at the Ninth National Congress of COSATU. He also serves in the COSATU Provincial Executive Committee, Provincial Working Committee as a member of the SACP (South African Communist Party) since 2000 and 2003, and he was elected President of COSATU in the 11th National Congress of COSATU up to date. He is a loyal member of the ANC which he formally joined in 1990 and participated in its community programmes. He is also a member of the ANC NEC." Sidumo has a paralegal background is a strong negotiator with developed conflict management skills, combined with dispute resolution..