MOKOPANE – Aubrey, the political activist and royal family member, was born on 23 November 1956 in a small village, Lebjane, a dispersed settlement, also called Seven Miles, outside Mokopane.
His father is royalty in the Langa Bakenberg Ndebele tribe and his mother was a great political activist in the struggle for freedom in the 1980s.
Aubrey’s family was forcibly relocated in 1963 by the betterment policy of the Apartheid era from Lebjane to an old location just outside Mokopane, then Potgietersrus.
“I attended Mokerong Primary School and matriculated in 1976 at a boarding school, Setotolwane High School in Polokwane. I enrolled at the University of the North, now University of Limpopo, to study my first year of medicine and for the second year, I enrolled at the University of KwaZula-Natal. In my second year, I became a political activist and was expelled from the university for my involvement in politics and activism.”
Aubrey came back to his hometown, Mokopane, and it wasn’t long before he ran into the long arm of the law. “In 1977 I was arrested for defending my identical twin brother, who was helping my mother to transport political refugees to the Botswana border in a stolen vehicle.”
According to Aubrey, the police arrested him thinking he was his twin brother. “After I was brutally tortured for days, they came to the conclusion that they had the wrong brother. The police then ordered me to take them to him. On our way, I decided to disrupt their plans as I didn’t want to take the ‘enemy’ to my brother. A struggle ensued in the police vehicle and it subsequently rolled. As a result I was charged and convicted for attempted murder. I decided to take the rap for the stolen vehicle so my brother wouldn’t have to be arrested as well.”
Aubrey said he was released in 1979 and he hid his academic records when he enrolled at the University of Fort Hare for a teacher’s degree to avoid the normal blacklisting. “During this time I met my ex-wife, a lecturer at the university. It was not long before I got lost again and got mixed up with gangsters in the Eastern Cape. In my fourth year, in 1985, the gang got involved in a train robbery, stealing over R85 000 which was being transported from one bank to another. We were later arrested and I was sentenced to eight years imprisonment of which I served six. I left my four-month-old son behind and my wife filed for divorce while I was incarcerated.
“My father and the Langa royal family summoned me home but it was only after my father died that I got involved with royalty matters. I was assigned to become the personal advisor of chief Phillip Langa but also headed the mining division within the Bakenberg Traditional Council. As the head of economic development, I established the Royal Economic Forum with six chieftainships.”
Work at the council helped Aubrey to focus on what he believes he was born to do. “To be a soldier for trampled tribes. My great-grandfather and grandfather were all generals in the Ndebele tribe.”
Five years ago, Aubrey got involved in mining issues and decided to focus on Platreef.
“The community of Masehlaneng asked me to assist them with issues related to Platreef.
“Through this forum, we are fighting for the communities’ rights in the mining sector and Advocate Gerrie Nel and Afriforum also got involved to fight for the communities’ rights.”
redaksie.bosvelder@nmgroup.co.za
