John Kgwana Nkadimeng was born in 12 June 1927 Sekhukhuneland in the rural eastern Transvaal Province (now called Limpopo Province in South Africa). After completing primary school he worked as a domestic worker in Germiston (Gauteng Province) where he remained for about a year. He returned home in 1945 and in 1946 was employed in a hat factory in Johannesburg. He again returned to Sekhukhuniland and early in 1947 went back to Johannesburg to work in a tobacco factory.
Whilst employed in the tobacco factory, Nkadimeng joined the African Tobacco Workers' Union, becoming a shop steward in 1949. Following a strike in 1950, he lost his job. During the 1952 Defiance Campaign he was arrested and detained for a month. He was charged with conspiracy and attempting to overthrow the state by violence, but the charges were dropped and he was released.
