Walter Benson Rubusana was born in 1858 at Mnandi in the Somerset East district. He was educated at Lovedale College. He was ordained in the Congregational Church in 1884 and became a minister at East Bank Location in East London. He participated in the establishment of the newspaper, Izwi Labantu (The Voice of the People) while in East London. He authored “History of South Africa from the Native Standpoint” and collected many Xhosa praise poems which he later published.
In 1910 Rubusana was elected to seat on the Cape Provincial Council representing the Thembu people. He was the only black elected to such a position. Rubusana was one of the founder members of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) which later became the ANC. Rubusana played a key role in protests to London, one against the proposed Union Constitution in 1909 while in 1914 he joined a SANNC delegation to protest the Native Land Act.
Walter Rubusana died on 19 April 1936 in East London at the age of 85. The building named in his honour is now a Department of Education district office.