Enos Mafokate (*

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

in a

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

Township,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

) is a South African show jumper and founder of a riding school. He became successful as being the first black South African show jumper.

Biography and Career

Born in a Johannesburg township Mafokate lived with his parents in the countryside, where he worked on a farm as a

groom A bridegroom (often shortened to groom) is a man who is about to be married or who is newlywed. When marrying, the bridegroom's future spouse (if female) is usually referred to as the bride. A bridegroom is typically attended by a best man an ...

and thereby started to love horses. The (white) owner of the farm taught him riding. 1962 he worked as a groom for professional show jumpers. He had his first chance for competitive showjumping, when his employer decided to let the black grooms compete against each other. Mafokate first competed just against other black people, as he was not allowed to compete against whites. His career ended 1962 for now, because of political problems. However, in 1975 he enrolled at the Marist Brothers College, a showjumping school, which allowed 17 black grooms at their school. Because he won many competitions he gained recognition and was furthermore called "black rider", not "groom". His international career started 1980, when he was spotted by the British rider

David Broome David McPherson Broome (born 1 March 1940) is a retired Welsh show jumping champion. He competed in the 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1988 Olympics and won individual bronze medals in 1960 on Sunsalve and in 1968 on his best-known horse ''Mr Sof ...

. 1992 was the first time since 1960 for South Africa to compete at the Olympics, because prior to that South Africa was suspended because of

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. Mafokate, as being the first black South African show jumper, did not compete actively, but accompanied the games as a sports ambassador. 2007 Mafokate founded the ''Soweto Equestrian Foundation'' (SEF), a non-profit riding school. It has the aim to improve the welfare of cart horses in Soweto, to open the elite world of riding to people, who would otherwise never get the chance to ride on a horse, and to get disabled children on horses. To accomplish this the pupils at the riding school only have to pay a very small membership fee. Enos Mafokate is father of the famous South African musician

Arthur Mafokate Arthur Mafokate (born 10 July 1972) is a South African kwaito musician and producer. In 1994, he released his debut album titled ''Windy Windy'' with the hit track "Amagents Ayaphanda”. Life and career Early life Arthur Mafokate was born on ...

and six other children.

Success as a Rider

* 1976: Second at the Rothmanns Derby * 1977, 1978: Winner of the competitions at the Constantia Show Grounds in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

References

:People :1946 births :Men {{DEFAULTSORT:Mafokate, Enos 1946 births Living people Sportspeople from Johannesburg Show jumping riders