Manne Emsley Dipico, first Premier of the Northern Cape Province, South Africa, was born in Kimberley on 21 April 1959.
[2] Dipico matriculated from St Boniface High School in Kimberley in 1979, going on to study for a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Fort Hare.
In 1996 he obtained a Leadership Diploma at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States of America.
While at Fort Hare Dipico was an executive member of the Azanian Students Organisation (Azaso), joining underground structures of the African National Congress (ANC) in the Eastern Cape in 1982.
He became Regional Secretary of the African National Congress in the Northern Cape in 1991, following the un-banning of the organization in South Africa, becoming its Provincial Chairman in 1992.