“Break away from your limitations,”says Secunda’s Freddy Mogotlane

SECUNDA – Mr Freddy Mogotlane shared his testimony one Sunday at His Way Family Church with the hope that his story might encourage others to break away from the limitations life offer them.

Mr Mogotlane grew up in a village called Zebediela in Limpopo and lived with his grandmother because his mother had six children and was working as a domestic worker for a family in Johannesburg.

He remembers how, during school holidays, he and other children would take a taxi to go to Johannesburg to visit their families.

As a 13-year-old boy, Mr Mogotlane once saw the same taxi driver in his taxi in the street and ran across the street to greet him.

“He asked me who I was and I told him and then he asked who my mother was and I told him.

“He then gave me R20 and I went to the supermarket and bought some meat.

“When I got home, I began cooking the meat and my grandmother asked me where I stole the money to buy the meat and I said the taxi driver gave it to me.

“My grandmother then walked away angry.

“I heard her swearing in the next room and I heard words that changed my life forever.

“She said: ‘This man said he is not my son and I don’t know him and now you come and give him money’.

“My heart just tore there when I realised the man that I knew as the uncle who drove the taxi was actually my father.”

Mr Mogotlane said the Lord wanted him to know He does not only want to heal that brokenness, but also that the brokenness was not a mistake on God’s part.

“It was not something that just slipped and God lost control, but everything that happens is orchestrated by God, even the bad things because He makes all things work together for our good.”

Mr Mogotlane’s grandmother who raised him, died a month after he found out that the taxi driver was actually his father.

He moved to Welkom to stay with his older brother and later tried to relocate with his brother to Evander, but he could not because the school curriculums did not correspond during those years.

Life was difficult for Mr Mogotlane and he failed two grades throughout primary school and high school.

He ended up living by himself and receiving bread from his neighbour who he helped to cut the bread and package it. His brother also sent money every month.

He also worked in a teacher’s garden while he was in high school to put food on the table, and he sold sweets at school.

After school he eventually ended up living with his brother in Evander and completed a course in Computer Systems Engineering and he began working as an IT-student at a municipality 19 years ago.

He worked his way up to become an IT-manager.

Mr Mogotlane has been married to Ms Tebogo Mogotlane for the past five years and he has four children.

He established a relationship with his father and saw him once a year until his father passed away in 2017.

He also introduced his three oldest children to his father when they were born.

Mr Mogotlane’s youngest child was only born after his father died.

He believe God has called him to teach, preach, evangelise and to be a public servant in his work environment.

“God wants people to know, that He wants to do deep surgery and that your brokenness is not a disqualification of who you are meant to become.

“Do not hold onto an identity of brokenness anymore.”

In his free time, Mr Mogotlane enjoys spending time in the Word of God, running and spending time with his family.

He is a member of the Sasol Marathon Club and he has completed the Cosmos 3-in-1 marathon, the Loskop marathon as well as other marathons.

Nowadays he prefers shorter marathons such as the 10 or 21km races.