Ephraim Matsilela Sono OIS (affectionately known as Jomo Sono and sometimes also called the "Black Prince of South African Soccer" and "Bra J" "Mjomana" ) (born 17 July 1955) is a South African soccer club owner and coach and was also a star soccer player. Sono was born in Soweto. Both his grandparents were born in the then Northern Transvaal at Valdezia village outside Makhado in Limpopo Province.
Sono was born in Queenstown, Eastern Cape. When he was eight years old, his father Eric Bhamuza Sono, who was a midfielder for the Orlando Pirates football team in the early 1960s, died as a result of a car crash. Soon after, his mother abandoned him. Consequently, Sono was left in the care of his ailing grandparents; as they were very poor, he had to resort to selling apples and peanuts at soccer games and train stations to clothe himself, buy food for his grandparents and pay school fees.