By Victor Mukwevho Ne-vumbani
In order to share valuable information about our sporting history with you, our readers, The Tembisan will from time to time bring you Tembisa’s golden heroes.
This column will help us to share information about our former stars; people who graced our sporting fields for decades.
We are inviting you to participate by contacting Victor on 082 359 0560, during working hours.
Our first golden hero is Lebo Aphane.
Even though Tembisa is known for producing talented sportsmen and women for the past three decades, internationally renowned bodybuilding judge Mr Lebo Aphane is regarded as the best sportsman to have been produced in Tembisa to date.
Mr Aphane has won more than 100 local, national and international medals in his career.
It all started in 1984 when Mr Aphane, who was a well-known physical guru in Tembisa then, decided to take bodybuilding seriously.
“I became the first black man to join a whites only gym in Kempton Park, which was called The Gym. It was situated in West Street. I had to rush to the gym immediately after work because black people were not allowed in towns in the evening. It was tough,” he said.
In 1986, he won the Mr Tembisa title and defended it seven times in succession before deciding to give it up. In 1988, he won the Easten Transvaal’s bantamweight title.
“I won a floating trophy and I had to defend it three times in a row in order to keep it,” he said.
According to Mr Aphane, he said the most difficult thing for black bodybuilders then was to be placed in the top six because those positions were always reserved for whites.
“As a black bodybuilder, you had to work harder than the rest to be counted. But through perseverance, I made it to the top,” he said.
After retiring from competitive bodybuilding, Mr Aphane became a judge. He went through rigorous courses overseas until he became one of the best bodybuilding judges in the world.
In 2006, he became the first black chief judge for the World Phyisique (WPF) and in 2010, he was nominated as the best judge globally.
In order to plough back into the community, he opened his own gym called the Moreko Gym in Tsenelong Section in Tembisa, where he helps up-and-coming bodybuilders hone their skills.
When asked what methods he used to make it big, he said, “It is all about commitment and hard work.”
For more information, contact Mr Aphane on 072 616 7243.
