Ramano was born in
Sophiatown on 7 July 1939. He completed his schooling at Madibane High School and worked as a senior clerk at the
WNLA mines depot in Johannesburg from 1961 to 62. He left South Africa in 1962 to join the armed wing of the
African National Congress,
uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK). He attended a number of military courses in
Tanzania,
Egypt (special operations), and the
Soviet Union, including a Soviet Army Staff Course in 1971. He returned to South Africa in 1992 and attended the
Zimbabwe Army Staff Course in 1994. In 1995, he attended the SANDF Joint Staff Course and was appointed General Officer Commanding
Northern Cape Command in July of that year. In May 1997 he was appointed Deputy Chief of the Army and on 1 July 1998 he was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed Chief of the Army. Ramano died on 8 June 2025, at the age of 85. ==Honours and awards==