Residents of Mamelodi are on the verge of realising a long-held dream: the creation of a skateboard park near the Mamelodi East Police Station. This project owes much to the dedicated efforts of Poelo Mofolo, founder of the Mamelodi Skate Club. Despite hitting a wall in securing a venue for the skate park, Mofolo found a breakthrough when he reached out to Dean McPherson, the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Development, via Instagram and received an immediate response. In an interview with Biznews, Mofolo shared his inspiring journey from childhood spent in childrenâs homes, where skateboarding and acting became vital outlets. A mentor, Cati Muller, played a pivotal role by introducing him to acting and speech lessons, helping him evolve from âa kid living in a room with 20 other kidsâ to winning Eisteddfods, often without any family members in the audience. Today, Mofolo is not only a passionate skateboarder and actor but also a determined advocate for helping other children succeed. His vision for the skate park includes transforming it into a multi-purpose educational facility featuring after-school programmes for kids in Mamelodi. Mofolo believes that nothing in life comes for free, so he offers free skateboards in exchange for volunteer hours spent in the community garden.
Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.
Watch here
Listen here
Highlights from the interview
The residents of Mamelodi are on the brink of realizing a long-held dream: the establishment of a skate park, thanks to the dedication of Puelo Mofolo, founder of the Mamelodi Skate Club. The inspiration for this skate park stems from Mofolo’s childhood, where skateboarding served as a crucial outlet for his challenges growing up in a children’s home. Introduced to skateboarding by a friend, it became an escape and a source of joy in an otherwise difficult upbringing.
Mofolo’s journey from a children’s home to becoming an advocate for youth development in Mamelodi is marked by perseverance. He faced numerous challenges, including a lack of family support and the struggles of transitioning out of the children’s home at 18. However, through education and passion for acting, Mofolo found a positive path, using his experiences to fuel his current projects.
The skate park, named EduPark, is envisioned as a multi-purpose facility that will not only provide recreational activities like skateboarding but also educational resources such as computer labs and after-school programs. Mofolo’s initiative aims to create a safe space for the youth of Mamelodi, offering them opportunities to learn and grow while engaging in sports. His efforts gained momentum after successfully capturing the attention of Minister Dean MacPherson, who has pledged support for the project.
Extended transcript of the interview ___STEADY_PAYWALL___
Linda van Tilburg (00:00.778)
Residents of Mamelodi are on the verge of realising a long-held dream: the creation of a skate park near the Mamelodi East Police Station. It’s all thanks to the dedicated efforts of Puelo Mofolo, the founder of the Mamelodi Skate Club.
Can we start off with what inspired this idea of a skate park in Mamelodi?
Poelo Mofolo (00:00:30)
I would have to say the seed was planted many years ago. I grew up in a children’s home, and the lady who owned the children’s home used to bring her son with her, and he and I sort of became friends. He used to skate. So, he introduced me to skateboarding, gave me his old skateboard, and it was such a great thing for me to do. It was an outlet for my problems. Hereâs a kid living in a room full of 20 other kids, and he gets to go skate every afternoon with his friend. So, it was a great escape for me.
Linda van Tilburg (00:01:09)
Can you share your personal journey from living in a children’s home to who you are today?
Poelo Mofolo (00:01:15)
So I was born in Dobsonville. An early childhood memory would be in Snake Park. I lived there with my grandmother. I never knew my father. I know of my mother, but I don’t personally know her. I have memories of her from when I was younger, but she was not the most loving person.
I don’t even think I remember my mum hugging me or anything like that, but I stayed with my grandmother from when I was four until I was about six years old, and she also didn’t want me, so she sent me to a children’s home in Dobsonville. But that children’s home was actually illegal. One day, police and social workers came and raided the place, and most of the children there could locate their family members, whether it was a granny or an aunt or something, and they wanted them. I was one of the kids whose families didn’t want us at all. So, they took us to a place in Roodepoort.
Linda van Tilburg (00:02:55)
Well, many kids in the township have challenges, and they have temptations like drugs, petty theft, and gangs. So how did you avoid all that?
Poelo Mofolo (00:04:46)
When you turn 18, you have to leave your children’s home, and I did not know what I was going to do. I only had a scholarship to study drama here in Pretoria, and I grabbed that opportunity. I really did. I came to study drama, and when I finished studying, I went into modelling. I did adverts and a lot of modelling campaigns, and that helped me to pay the bills and gain experience because what I was pursuing was acting. Acting was also an outlet for me, even when I was living at the children’s home. That’s where I started. There was a lady who came and asked each of the children what they would like to be when they grow up, and I said I would like to be an actor.
A few weeks later, she came and fetched me and took me to my first drama lesson. What was inspiring about this drama lesson was that it wasn’t just acting; it was speech and drama. I was taught by Catii Muller. She used to be a lecturer at WITS, so I had the best teacher in South Africa.
Most people always say to me I come from an Ivy League school or something like that. I don’t come from a fancy school; I just had good teachers around me. I think acting for me was also an escape because I could pretend to be someone else on a Wednesday when I went to drama classes.
I could pretend to be something else, someone else who didn’t have my background. I think when you come from a background like mine, you are constantly trying to escape. I think that’s why most young people fall victim to drugs or bad influences because you’re escaping. That’s why you’re doing the drugs. That’s why you’re stealing; you’re becoming somebody else. I think pursuing acting was just doing that in a positive way. I could pretend to be someone else. I also did Eisteddfods. I did many Eisteddfods, even at fancy schools like Crawford in Sandton.
Katie Miller, who was my drama teacher, used to take me there with all those kids, and it was something else because no one even came to watch me, and I used to win those Eisteddfods. And it was really sad, but the fact that I had a teacher who took me all the way to Sandton to perform poems and do drama plays was really inspiring because she made me believe in myself, to say, âYou might not have what other kids have, but look where you are.â
Linda van Tilburg (00:06:43)
How did you manage to capture the attention of Minister Dean MacPherson?
Poelo Mofolo (06:47.835)
I must be honest with you; I nearly gave up. It really started to feel like it was never going to happen because I had
been speaking to so many politicians, so many officials, and it just seemed like no one was interested in building a facility for children and youth, especially if it didn’t benefit them, you know? So, I started to feel like this might not happen. But when I looked at the political landscape, there was hope coming, and it was the GNU.
I looked at the new minister, Mr. Dean MacPherson. He had Instagram, and we run an Instagram page called the Mamelodi Skate Club. That’s where we post our activities and what we are up to with our programmes here in Mamelodi. So, I got the courage to text him via DM on Instagram. I told him about the challenges I had been facing in trying to get this vacant site owned by his department.
He replied immediately and said to me, âI love what you are doing for your community. Please give me your number.â But then I thought, âIt’s a nice compliment, but is he actually going to do anything?â The next day, when I woke up, I had a few missed calls on my phone from a number I didn’t even know.
Then I just ignored it. Literally, maybe moments later, I received a WhatsApp message saying, âHello Poelo, this is Dean MacPherson, the new Minister of Public Works. Can I call you?â
I was stunned. I was really surprised. I immediately replied and said yes, and he called me immediately. I spoke to him and was very surprised by his demeanour. Such a gentleman, a real South African, a real patriot, and he speaks like you and I are speaking right now. He’s not living in this bubble. He immediately said he would do everything in his power to get me this land to build the skate park/educational centre.
What I was also surprised by is that he never spoke to me through a PA or through an official. He called me personally, and that needs to be applauded.
Linda van Tilburg (00:09:37)
Were you surprised by his response? Politicians often seem out of reach for most people.
Poelo Mofolo (00:09:46)
Yes, I was very surprised by his response.
I was particularly surprised by him actually coming to Mamelodi and meeting with me. We did a site visit with the minister, and that, to me, is just so surprising. We need more politicians like Dean MacPherson. We really do.
Linda van Tilburg (00:10:07)
So how do you think something like a skate park would contribute to development in the community?
Poelo Mofolo (00:10:08)
So the concept for EduPark is that it will be a multi-purpose facility. We are going to have a skate park, a volleyball court, a tennis court, and around it, we are going to build educational facilities. For instance, we are going to have a computer lab. We are also going to have classes that can be used for after-school programmes, helping kids with homework after school, even for exams. They can come and study there. They can use those classrooms as study hubs during exams. I think a facility like this will play such an important role in youth development because it also creates a safe space where you can come and study, where you can come and hone your skills. So, my intention was, if you build a multi-purpose facility like this, a child goes there for skateboarding, for instance, and they are there for skateboarding but then they see, âMy goodness, you can actually get help with homework here. Theyâre doing drama lessons.’ So the sporting side of the facility is more of an attraction. It draws the youth and children.
And then when you have them there, they realise, âWow, I can actually do so many other things. There are so many opportunities at EduPark.â I think it will have a beautiful impact on the children and youth of Mamelodi.
Linda van Tilburg (00:12:00)
Are there any other projects or initiatives you’re passionate about that you’d like to pursue?
Poelo Mofolo (00:12:05)
There are other initiatives that I’m interested in, especially relating to Edgy. The skate club used to run an agricultural programme. Skateboarding is such an expensive thing to do; buying skateboarding equipment is really expensive. So, it makes it an exclusive thing, and we want to make it more inclusive. We used to work with sponsors to finance skateboards, wheels, and trucks. And what the skate club did was partner with a local non-profit organisation here in Mamelodi, and they used to have a garden. So, instead of just giving children and youth free skateboards, I dislike that concept. I think it’s a bad culture to have. The idea I came up with is that you could volunteer in the garden. You would get a piece of paper and write your name, surname, and the number of hours you’d spent in the garden, learning how to grow organic vegetables or just cleaning up. You could choose what time you wanted to come and what time you wanted to leave, and at the end of every month, I would look at the list of participants who came and volunteered in the garden. I would add up the time, and if you had spent enough time volunteering in the garden, then you received a free skateboard and free wheels. I tell you, doing it like that also inspired the younger generation to be interested in farming and growing organic vegetables. That’s going to be a big component in Edgy Park agriculture. We want to inspire the next farmers. We need that, especially when it comes to food security. Young people need to get involved. It is our future. I am definitely going to implement this programme that we’ve already run, but now we get to do it on a bigger scale thanks to the Minister of Public Works.
Read also:
