Business pioneer remembered

THE community of Atteridgeville got together to celebrate the life of business pioneer Johannes Motshwane Letsoalo, popularly known as “One Time”.

The event was attended by Makgoba Royal Family members and leaders of the Zion Christian Church.

Letsoalo is credited with establishing the first fuel station in Atteridgeville and founding the ZCC Business Forum. He died 48 years ago.

The family decided to honour him after a civic organisation placed his name on a statue opposite the police station to celebrate the people who made the township what it is today.

Letsoalo built the first shops, which still exist in the townships.

His other business, Madibakwena Liquor Store, was torched during the 1976 youth uprising.

He is also one of the people who established the Atteridgeville taxi industry.

People who attended his commemoration, funded by the Spiyoyo Group, learnt that in his lifetime, between 1894 and 1975, “One Time” married four women and had at least 15 children who now have numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

His great-grandson Lehlogonolo Letsoalo, who founded Aga Sechaba Community Projects in Ga-rankuwa, said the icon visited him in his dreams for 11 years, but it took him a while to understand what he wanted.

“He was a son of a king in Kgwanane,

Tzaneen, but came to Atteridgeville after his father and other leaders were killed and beheaded in a land dispute by the oppressors, who then took over ownership of their land.

“Being the great man that he was, he arrived here and started an empire from scratch to end up driving and selling cars at an auction in 1910. At the time, black men could not do those things.

“When we hear stories about his life, he received the nickname ’One Time’ because he would do everything just once and succeed.

“He was so determined and his love for people made him popular and very influential during a time when black men were not allowed to have influence like that.

“Today we are here as the Letsoalo family and relatives. We are in talks with the businesses that operate there. Things are starting to make sense and we can see that his legacy is coming together.

“We are talking about a great man here. Where there is now a fuel service station in Mawunde Street, it used to be his business. He brought that to his people in the township. We are proud to be his descendants.

“A special thank you to one of his great-great-great grandsons, Khutso Letsoalo, 23, who used this new technology to put this together for us.

“He even took the only photo of Letsoalo that still exists and made a digital copy for us.”

One Time’s last-born, Zapho Letsoalo, 78, said he was very emotional to see his brother’s brilliance recognised and celebrated by the community and his descendants who never even met him. “This is truly humbling.sometimes our great history is forgotten as our children are not taught that.”

Lehlogonolo was told by his father, Wilson Letsoalo, that he would now be known in the family and community as Lehlogonolo “One Time” Letsoalo, after the late business icon.