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.

All of Khulumani's members are survivors of gross human rights violations under apartheid. Membership to Khulumani is by way of filling out a Needs Assessment Form, outlining the details of violation(s) of human rights that the individual has suffered and what their needs are. These are then captured onto a database and used for lobbying and advocacy. The fact that membership to Khulumani – an IsiZulu word that means 'speak out - is by way of self-identification as a 'victim' or 'survivor', as opposed to being 'certified' by a state agency as such, contributes to affirming the agency of these victims. In the words of Dr Marjorie Jobson, Director of Khulumani, such self-identification 'personalises the struggle by creating ways in which those who contributed, may identify themselves and it affords them opportunities to name the harm that was done to them as a first step towards their healing.'

The National Director of Khulumani Support Group, Dr Marjorie Jobson, was appointed in January 2006. She is a medical graduate who specialized in anaesthesia. She visited political prisoners on death row as a member of the Black Sash Campaign against the Death Penalty. Through these visits she befriended Mr Duma Kumalo, one of the Sharpeville Six who had been sentenced to death on the basis of false testimony, extracted under torture. When Khulumani Support Group was institutionalized, she was approached by Mr Kumalo in his capacity as a founder member of the organisation, to make herself available as a Board Member.