Cliford Alfred Machete was born in Arthurseat in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga Province on the 04th June 1989. His father was born Deaf, which possibly caused the condition in Clifford as well. Cliford was not the only member of his family who was Deaf, his father too was Deaf and his mother was fluent in sign language. Cliford has three siblings, Keraiye Machete, Kholofelo Mayoyo Machete, and Vinolia Festiah Machete. He is the youngest of the four.

Unfortunately, both of Cliford’s parents passed away during 2001-2002. Cliford attended the Yingisani Special School for the Deaf in Tzaneen, Limpopo provincial in 1995. In 2005 he moved to Filadelfia Secondary School in Soshanguve L, Pretoria, Gauteng Provincial where he then completed his high school career in 2009. It was then that he began serving at senior leadership levels.

 

In 2007-2009 he was elected as Chairperson for the Filadelfia Deaf Football Club, and in the same year, he also served as the Deputy Secretary of the Filadelfia Sports Commission. He actively participated in school debates, sporting activities and was a motivation speaker to Deaf learners while he was acting the President of the Representatives Council Leadership (RCL). He was awarded as the Best Deaf Learner Achievement in Life Orientation, Economics, Mathematics Literacy, Business Studies, and Computer Literacy in 2007-2009.  In 2007, Cliford’s debate team also won a first-place award during a provincial debate competition for the Deaf school in Pretoria.

 

In 2005-2008, Cliford made some advances in his cricket career. He was chosen as the best cricketer for his phenomenal role in the Filadelfia Deaf Cricket School Team in 2008. He represented the Gauteng Northern Deaf Cricket Team in 2007; unfortunately, he was not selected as part of the South African Deaf Cricket Team to India.

 

From 2006 to 2008 he received runner medals and many certificates for his accomplishments in cricket.  In the annual competition against Sonitus Deaf and Hard-of-hearing School Team, Cliford’s team lost both times during the Transnet Cricket Tournament Final (2007 and 2008), which was organized by the South African Deaf for the Cricket Association and Gauteng Northern Cricket Board. He was also a golf player and he was very pleased to be selected for the Gauteng Disabilities Golf Team, which would have gone to Italy in 2008. However, the trip was canceled due to lack of sponsorship.

 

In April 2010, he was elected as the chairperson of the Mpumalanga Deaf Sports Federation (MPDSF). Later that year, he became the founder and chairperson of the Bushbuckridge Deaf Football Club. July 2010, he was served as a member of the Deaf Provincial Council of the Deaf Federation South Africa (DeafSA) Mpumalanga where he represented as the Sport and collaborated with the Mpumalanga Deaf Sports Federation.  In March 2012, he received an award and a prize for being the Best Community Builder with Disability from the Mpumalanga Office of the Premier. He has also organized many successful tournaments in the 2012 National Deaf Development Games, which was the first of its kind to be hosted in August 2012 in Nelspruit, while also working together with the South African Deaf Sports Federation (SADSF) and Mpumalanga Provincial Department of Sports and Recreation. Later in November 2012, he then decided to not re-elect as the Provincial Chairperson to further his studies. Then the same year, he received an award for being the Best Volunteer Administrator for the Year within Disability by the Mpumalanga Department of Sports and Recreation.

 

Between 2010 and 2012, he was appointed as the Supervisor of the Khai Ri Gude Literacy Campaign in the Bushbuckridge Region in Mpumalanga Provinces by the National Department of Basic Education. This took place during the Deaf literacy campaign that was to be held in May 2010, this campaign is helping many Deaf adults who drop-out school during apartheid time and uncompleted school. Here he worked together with well-known Nkosinathi Freddy Ndlovu, the Provincial Coordinator in the Mpumalanga Province.  In 2011, he was appointed as the part-time SASL Training Facilitator at the Mpumalanga Office of the Premier and work together with well-known late Meshack Mndawe. In January 2013, then he resigned as his job due to his studies further.

 

In 2013, he began studying at the Motheo TVET College Bloemfontein campus in Free State Provincial, where he became involved in student politics. He joined the South African Student Congress Organisation (SASCO), and he also served as a member of SASCO in the Motheo Region. In March 2013 he became the first in the history of Motheo College and all South African Colleges, to be elected as the Disability Officer of the Student Representatives Council (SRC) at the Motheo TVET College, and in March 2014 he was re-elected as the Disability Officer until his term expired in March 2015.

 

In June 2013, he became a member and served as the Secretary of Free State Deaf Football Association under the Free State Deaf Sports Federation. He also served as a member of the National Student Financial Authorities Schemes (NSFAS) for People with Disabilities Commission by the South Africa Department of Higher Education and Training. In June 2014, he completed his studies at Motheo TVET College and now holds a certificate as Management Assistant in May 2015.

 

In December 2013, Machete was elected as the President of the South African Deaf Football Association (SADFA), where the organization is an affiliated associate member of the South African Football Association (SAFA). In May 2015 he then decided to resign as SADFA President with immediate effect.

 

In December 2013, He was elected as the Vice President of the South African Deaf Youth Development Project (SADYDP) where I was the co-founder to establish after above-mentioned. He was also the Chairperson of the SADYDP NEC Sub-Committee on National Career Development, Information and Communication Programme.

 

In February 2015, Machete began studying towards obtaining a Bachelors Degree of Administration at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein. In November 2017, I then completed his Bachelors Degree of Administration at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein.

 

In September 2015, he became involved in Deaf drama as his character is president called Local-S-Lekker was produced by Gali Elizabeth Malebo, EL Deaf Theatre Production.

 

In May 2015, he was appointed as part-time working as the South African Sign Language Examiner at the University of the Free State Department of the South African Sign Language. In July 2017, he decided to resign as part-time working as the SASL Examiner due to full academic calendar to complete his degree.

 

In October 2016, Machete has been appointed to serve as a co-opted member on the Interim South African Sign Language National Language Body (SASL NLB).

 

In October 2017, he was invited by the Principal of the Filadelfia Secondary School, he attended the 2017 Matric Farewell where he was the motivation speaker to the matric learners.

 

In December 2017, he was newly elected as the President of the South African Deaf Youth Development Project in Pretoria.

 

He graduated his Bachelor's Degree in Administration during UFS Graduation Ceremony at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein on 13 April 2018.

 

He struggled to find for any permanent job or internship job where he studied in fields, there was no luck. In March until June 2018, he decided to apply for a learnership in system development at the Imperial Logistics Academy in Germiston, Gauteng where its partnership with Mbula Research & System Development, he will get certificate in NQF4 System Development under Media, Information, and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority (MICT SETA) once contract end. In May 2019, He then move to get work practical and working as the Service Desk Intern at the Imperial IT in Jet Park, Elandsfontein.

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He is currently working as a junior teacher at the St Vincent School for the Deaf. He is studying the PGCE part time, in the evening over 2 years at the University of the Witwatersrand.