Gayton McKenzie is a South African politician who was previously jailed for robbery for 17 years. He is a business man, a motivational speaker, author and former Executive Mayor of the Central Karoo District Municipality in South Africa. He is also the president of the Patriotic Alliance political party. He came to prominence in the early 2000s for his role in a prison exposé that eventually led to his early release amid an investigation of prison corruption by the Jali Commission of Inquiry. McKenzie grew up in the Bloemfontein neighborhood of Heidedal, South Africa.