Legendary athlete is celebrated
MIDRAND – Legendary showjumper Enos Mafokate, was awarded an Andrew Mlangeni Green Jacket Award after 40 since opening doors for South Africans to join the sport.
The legendary Enos Mafokate, who was the first black showjumper in South Africa, received this year’s Andrew Mlangeni Green Jacket Award.
Mafokate, who has stables in Fourways, has had a turbulent but barrier-breaking career which led him to open doors for many South Africans to take part in equestrian locally as well as worldwide.
The prestigious Andrew Mlangeni Green Jacket Award award was introduced in 2011 by the Department of Sports Arts and Culture in partnership with the June and Andrew Mlangeni Foundation. The award aims to recognise and honour legends or heroes in sport who might not have been recognised for their achievements as youngsters due to restrictive apartheid laws.
Mafokate said he started competing in the sport in 1960, winning his first competition in 1962. However, at the time his win was not recognised as the rules were strict about the inclusion of people of colour in sports.
Mafokate explained how the fight for inclusion in sport became almost political, even though he did not fight politically. “I did not fight like a politician, instead I fought alone because if I had a friend, they would lose their job because white people did not want them associating with me in anyway,” he claimed.
He said in 1975, the government allowed black people to join showjumping officially, which led to him being accepted in the Transvaal Horse Society in 1977. In the same year, he won his first big show at a multiracial showjumping competition along with his partner.
Mafokate attained a number of wins in various competitions in 1978, 1980 and 1983. Mafokate said he really did not see the impact he had had in the sport until 1984. He performed for a crowd of 65 000 people at the Midlands Championship.
“When I was told that I had won, I laughed and [shed] a tear because I could not believe that was me. People could not believe that it was indeed a black person who had won, everybody wanted to touch me,” he said.
After a fruitful career, the 76-year-old spends his time developing a passion for horses in young children in Soweto and Fourways were he has stables. He also cares for animals and works with physically and mentally disabled children, offering them therapy through horses.
He added that through his efforts, he hoped to see the children in his development programme developing their own careers in the field.
