On 12 May 1952 Shepherd Mdladlana was born in Keiskammahoek in the Eastern Cape. He has been South African Minister of Labour since 1998 and is a member of the Communist Party.

Little is known of his background except that he was Xhosa-speaking and born about 1900. About 1924 he enrolled in the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) night school in Ferreirastown, Johannesburg and soon joined the Young Communist League as one of its first African recruits.