Karate grandmaster Soke Solly Said says his lifelong philosophy centres on how disciplined karate-do can be used as a tool for empowerment, education, and community rebuilding.

Growing up in Johannesburg’s Malay Camp, near Chinatown, in the shadow of John Vorster Square, Said was introduced to structured youth development work at a young age, through visiting scholar, professor Moulana Ansari, whose public lectures encouraged youth mobilisation and education. That influence contributed to the formation of the Central Islamic Youth Organisation (CIYO) in 1965, led by community figures including philanthropist MS Laher and scholar Abdullah Deedat. “The organisation, described as non-racial and community based, carried a founding principle focused on youth participation in positive action.”

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Within that structure, karate emerged as a key activity during the 1960s, despite restrictions under apartheid-era South Africa that limited martial arts training for people of colour. Said was among a small group who trained in secret, under the CIYO banner, which later evolved into Oyama-do Karate Kai, and aligned with non-racial sporting structures linked to the South African council on sports.
In 1973, he travelled abroad to further his training, first to the United States under Japanese karate master Seigi Nakamura, before continuing to Japan where he trained under Kaicho Mas Oyama.

He later returned to South Africa in 1975, founding his own full-time dojo and training system in Northcliff. Over the decades, Said expanded his work beyond competitive martial arts into community development, running self-defence programmes for abused women and children in partnership with organisations including People Opposing Woman Abuse (Powa), as well as youth-focused initiatives and benefit tournaments supporting social causes.

Between 2003 and 2009, he conducted weekly karate training sessions for hundreds of learners at Goud Park Primary School in Eldorado Park, a programme that was later documented and broadcast internationally. Said also established long-term uchi-deshi training programmes, mentoring full-time students in traditional karate-do, with some of his earliest students now teaching the next generation.

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His dojo continues to operate as a combined wellness, fitness, and martial arts system, incorporating karate, kickboxing, meditation, and rehabilitation training, with an emphasis on discipline, mental health, and community stability.

Said, who was inducted into an international martial arts hall of fame in the United States in 2006, remains active in training students and expanding his community programmes more than five decades after beginning his journey.“Training is not only about fighting. It is about building a complete human being.”

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