Mrs Sylvia Dlomo-Jele, the mother of Sicelo Dlomo, can truly be considered 'the mother of Khulumani Support Group.' Sicelo was a brilliant student who was detained for his anti-apartheid political activity while at school in Soweto.

Sicelo's mother became a founder member of the Detainees Parents' Support Committee. Her experience of the power of becoming part of an organized group of affected persons, led her to initiate dialogues in Soweto about whether victims should engage with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). These small group discussions in Soweto grew into what has over a short period of time become Khulumani Support Group.

Sylvia Dlomo was also involved in the ANC Women's League. She then connected with the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation who provided her with a small office from which she continued her outreach and activism. Through her involvement, she became more and more deeply involved in activism. Her work was sustained by her deep desire for justice and her love for her son.

Mam'Sylvia began to plan meetings for victims and parents of victims. She printed pamphlets, asking South Africans if they had been victims of apartheid, or if they knew of children who had suffered, disappeared or had been killed through their anti-apartheid activism. In her pamphlets, which she distributed around Soweto, she encouraged survivors to come together and told them that they must "speak out with one voice". From this the name of Khulumani Support Group was derived. Khulumani means "to speak out."

Victims who felt that they had been denied justice by the TRC were encouraged by Mam'Sylvia's belief that there was power in many voices. She believed in the power of coming together as a collective to insert the voices of victims into public processes. She was convinced that this would mean that victims would be less likely to be ignored. This laid the foundation for Khulumani's unceasing advocacy for justice and accountability in South Africa and especially for respect for the rights of victims.

In 1994, Mr Dlomo, Mam'Sylvia's husband and Sicelo's father, took early retirement to go on pension. With his pension pay-out, he bought a car so that he could drive his wife all over Gauteng and North West Province. Sylvia continuously preached the message of solidarity, hope and activism. Together with Mr Duma Kumalo, one of the Sharpeville Six, and Ms Ntombi Mosikare, Khulumani became a registered Non Profit Organisation to work with victims towards the resolution of all the consequences of their injuries sustained in the anti-apartheid struggle.

At its beginning, Khulumani office-bearers became statement-takers for the TRC, while others traveled across the country to try to educate victims about the TRC and the need to engage with its processes towards securing justice for victims. While the small staff worked in the office, she continued her outreach activities in the field, recruiting new members for Khulumani Support Group.

In 1995, Mam'Sylvia approached Amnesty International and it was Amnesty International that provided the first grant to Khulumani as an autonomous organization, enabling Khulumani to develop its work. With this grant, Khulumani was able to open its own office in Braamfontein in Devonshire House.

Khulumani meetings were regularly held in many locations, many taking place around Johannesburg and Pretoria. These groups continue to this day.

In 1996, Mam'Sylvia received an invitation from concerned individuals in the Netherlands who had learned about Khulumani's work and growth and in response, had invited Mam'Sylvia to The Netherlands. These supporters collected funds to assist Khulumani to sustain its office in Braamfontein.

When the truth about what had happened to her son, Sicelo, eventually emerged at the Amnesty Hearings of the TRC, and Mam'Sylvia sadly learned that it was in fact Sicelo's own comrades who had been involved in his murder, her health broke down. She passed away on 19 March 1999.

Today, Khulumani Support Group is a national membership organization comprising some 55,000 victims of apartheid-era gross human rights violations. The organization continues its work of supporting victims and empowering them into survivors, from its offices in Khotso House in Marshalltown, Johannesburg.