He obtained a Degree in Art History and Social Science at the University of Lund, Sweden and between 1982 and 1987 he was employed as an assistant secretary at the County Council Office in Skåne, Sweden. He became a full time artist in 1993. He has exhibited widely in SA and abroad and is represented in major collections in this country and internationally. He has carried out commissions in SA and in Sweden.

He has received numerous awards for his art over his long career as an artist. In 1998 the Durban Art Gallery curated the Azaria Mbatha Retrospective Exhibition which travelled to all the major art museums in SA.