Mzwethemba Dlutu, better known as “Shakes”, is a motivational speaker, facilitator of group effectiveness processes, energetic emcee for all your activation events and conferences and also designs and runs innovative youth development solutions for both schools and the South African youth market. Shakes also facilitates weekend teacher development workshops to assist teachers to reignite their passion for their profession.

His personal mission statement is to “Constantly add value to people’s lives, by empowering them to believe in themselves”.

He first became interested in the field of Personal Development & Self Mastery in 1995 when he was a student in the R.A.L.I. Project, a rich and diverse multicultural youth leadership programme. He went on to make history in the organization, by not only becoming the first student to be a R.A.L.I. trainer/facilitator, but was also the first black person to do so. Shakes has extensive experience in his field, and also has the unique ability to connect with people from different walks of life.  He is a natural and gifted speaker who uses humour and entertainment to drive home a powerful solid message.

He has a formal training on how to facilitate group processes through the South African College of Applied Psychology. In addition to this Shakes has been extremely privileged to have been mentored by John Kehoe, founder and author of Mind Power into the 21^st Century. He is also coached and working very closely with Robin Banks who runs the Mind Power course in South Africa

His favourite programs are the four week “Mind Power” course and the “Victim to Victor” workshop, a powerful catalysing process designed to “Create an Awareness of the power of mind-sets and their implications”. Since 1994 “Victim to Victor” has enjoyed tremendous success throughout the country and has made an impact on the lives of more than 500 000 South Africans.

Biography

Mzwethemba “Shakes” Mchithi is the eldest child of five, four brothers and one sister of Bhabhane Mchithi and Nodudu “Constance” Dlutu as seen in the picture below. As a result of being born in the Cape Flats back in the early seventies into parents that were traditionally married and under what was a harsh political climate he could not take his dad’s surname “ Mchithi ” as this would have meant that all the children would have been sent to the former rural Transkei now part of the beautiful Eastern Cape which where his dad was born.

To this day he is known legally as “Mzwethemba “Shakes” Dlutu which something the whole family have been challenged with as it has proven to be a logistical administration home affairs nightmare. Both his parents still live in Cape Town together with his siblings, he is the only one who lives in Johannesburg together with his daughter Siphe and son Mkhomanzi as seen in the picture below.

Shakes like many people is South Africa grew up in an environment he didn’t like, in extreme poverty. His father worked as a construction worker and his mom held a few jobs as a domestic worker. Together with his siblings they were raised in informal settlements shacks, with no electricity or running water as his parents were not legible for a house not to mention afford one. Going  to bed on an empty stomach or missing school due to lack of travelling fare  or illegally riding the train to school was very common in Crossroads. Below are the exact pictures of where Shakes was brought up by his parents, and where he raised and celebrated his own children’s birthday days.

It was an encounter while in high school in the year 1995 with someone who has since been a great friend and mentor Robin Banks, who was facilitating an after school life skills workshop, that a new chapter was about to be written, this is where Shakes somehow knew that better days were coming, not just for him but for his entire family too. This was the beginning of his inspirational anthology and personal development journey. What began as a young man’s desire to transform his own life has now grown into Shakes’ s life mission to empower people in organisations and around the world to truly believe in themselves. It through the application of Mind Power Principles that Shakes has been able to bring about lasting change in all areas of his life.

Amongst many things Shakes did to make ends meet while living in the Cape Flats on weekends was to work as a till packer for one the popular chain stores and as you can see in the picture below Shakes also would provide township tours for international tourists from the UK, Europe and the United States.