Donald Thumamina Mboto was born on 10 May 1987, in Harding near Port Shepstone on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. He was the ninth child of Thandiwe Daphney Mboto. He attended school at St. Michaels in Kokstad and had not yet secured formal employment at the time of his passing.
A gentle and considerate person, Mboto became concerned when, on the morning of 1 January 2010, he saw an unknown nine-year old girl, struggling in the water at the St. Michaels Beach.
Living up to his name, Thumamina (Send Me), without hesitation, Mboto jumped into the water to save the child. Although the child survived, this heroic deed cost him his life, as he could not make it out of the ocean.
In recognition of his heroic, selfless act of bravery, the State President, Jacob G Zuma, posthumously conferred Donald Thumamina Mboto with the Order of Mendi for Bravery in Bronze on 27 April 2011.