His master’s servavant

For a lot of people, following instructions is an absolute pain and difficult task.

Not so for Broadhurst Customary Court President, Kgosi Arnold Rapula Somolekae who credits the success of his elaborate career to his ability to know what is expected of him and following through with it.

“Some people have even called me lelope (bootlicker), but that is cool with me. I am better off that way,” says the 47-year-old father of four, adding “there is nothing wrong with bolope as long as you do your things without biting other people’s backs.” He admits he was not always a good sport.

It was only when he enrolled for military training as a newbie game’s scout in the Department of Wildlife and National Parks in 1998, that he developed the necessary discipline and level head he possesses today. He then joined the anti-poaching unit where his skills were put to the test. It is either kill or be killed by poachers, an environment he says is definitely not for scatterbrains.

In one incident at Gemsborg National Park, Kgosi Somolekae says he and his team were ambushed, outnumbered and came “under a lot of fire” from “a very hostile enemy” he had to lead his men to safety which involved abandoning their ride and literally running for over 70 km.

“It was like a scene out of the movies, but the truth is when you are in it, you cannot panic, you forget about being scared and your focus is to make sure you don’t get any causalities in your team,” he recalls.

Those days of being best friends with his rifle and constantly watching his back, are over now. Today, when he is not in his office deciding the fate of criminals, counseling families, executing high court orders among other responsibilities, he is touring schools within Broadhurst. His mission is to instill the same discipline that has worked for him over the years and discuss other issues that affect young people.

“One of my major interests is to bring about behavioural change in society and I believe it should start with the young members of our communities. The response has been very positive mostly because I bring myself to their level thereby making it easy to relate with them".

It is not a difficult task for a man whose favourite pastime involves football, watching the weird and amazing world of Ripley’s Believe it or Not, a 1000 ways to die and keeping up to date with Guinness World Records.

An activist who advocates for issues affecting men as much as he does for women, Kgosi Somolekae’s other passion, in fact his dream job, is to work in projects aimed at alleviating and empowering society’s poorest of the poor.

But overall he is a content man. His favourite saying is, “You should always be happy with what God gives you otherwise he will take it back.”