Bheki Gumude matriculated at Ohlange High School in KwaZulu Natal and studied for a B. Proc degree at the University of Natal, Durban [currently University of KwaZulu Natal]. During this time he assisted in the Street Law programme focusing on the less accessible schools of the province, prisons, etc. He has a Diploma in Project Management from the Executive Education, South African Study Centre of the Newport University, California, USA. He is also a certified Qualitative Researcher by the RIVA Training Institute, Bethesda, Washington DC, USA.

He worked at the University of Zululand as a full-time Street Law and Democracy-For-All Co-ordinator for the area beyond Tugela River.

He returned to the University of Natal Durban for province-wide responsibilities including teaching seminars and classes at the Universities of Natal [Durban and Pietermaritzburg], Durban-Westville and Zululand. At the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies he directed the national Qualitative Research Programme in collaboration with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.

He participated in the following research studies: Traditional Leadership Institutions in South Africa, Preparedness for the 1999 National and Provincial Elections, Effectiveness of Government Communication Strategies on HIV and Aids, Human Rights Awareness a collaborative research with the Morris Webb Institute and supervised a data collection for a survey of the Human Rights Research and Documentation Trust of Southern Africa. He also set at various bodies such as the Nicro Board, Civitas Steering Committee, founding chairman of the DLGCHC, panelist with GETNET, trustee of the Human Rights Trust, member of the reference group of the European Union Foundation for Human Rights and a reference group on human rights education for the Human Rights Commission. He also worked for the provincial and national IEC on ad hoc basis between the years 1999 and 2000.

During the above period he was invited and accepted participation in the IDP Education Australia Programme in 1997 [consulting 4 States] and a Fulbright International Visitors Programme in 1998 [consulting in 6 States]. He participated and presented at various democracy and human rights workshops and conferences in Mozambique, Tanzania, USA, Swaziland, Benin Republic and France.

He joined Mchunu Mashinini and Associates in 2001 as Operations Manager with daily operational responsibility of the Operations Division. He was deployed in the following assignments: the Transformation of the Department of Education and Culture KwaZulu-Natal [transforming 6 departments into 1 provincial department], Nigeria Electronic Voter’s Registration [produced a scrubbed data of 68 million people], Mozambique Supply of Voter Registration Materials and Equipment [for 196 training kits and 2,717 voting kits], Swaziland Voter Registration [polling equipment], Supply of Electoral Materials to Lesotho, and others. He has also led a number of key assignments in Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, DRC, Kenya, etc.

He is currently the Managing Director of the AFRICORE GROUP responsible for the consulting projects, [corporate] electoral services, mobile technology services, strategic support to the Office of the Executive Chairman and the group’s administration. He is daily responsible for: office systems and project capacity; operational performance of all business units; project performance and leadership; strategic direction and positioning; finance performance; finance compliance, company laws and tax; and policies and procedures.

He is an avid reader. He is also an enthusiastic squash player. He is also married and a dedicated father.