Madisha grew up in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, South Africa, where he was a member of the United Democratic Front.
[2] He had been under suspension since the second half of 2007 while a probe into the disappearance of a large cash donation was being carried out by COSATU; he had received the suspension for making public allegations concerning the estimated R500,000 donation from businessman Charles Modise to the South African Communist Party.
A noted dissenter from the predominant opinion of COSATU, he had publicly backed Thabo Mbeki for the presidency at the African National Congress's 2007 national conference in Polokwane while the trade union federation had adopted a resolution backing Jacob Zuma.
He then backed the Congress of the People (COPE) breakaway party formed by Mosiuoa Lekota, the former defence minister in Mbeki's second government.
[3] In August 2022, Madisha, by then deputy president of the party, announced that leader Mosiuoa Lekota had been suspended.