John S. P. Motloheloa was born in Basutoland (now Lesotho), he grew up in the Orange Free State and went to Cape Town in 1938. In the mid-1950s he was acting secretary of the African National Congress (ANC) in the Western Cape. He attended the 1956 World Youth Festival in Warsaw and also visited Britain and Hungary. In 1957, when he 'was chief sales agent for New Age in Cape Town, the South African government declared him a prohibited immigrant and forced him to return to Basutoland. He was later active in the formation of the Basutoland Communist Party and served as its general secretary.