Gaby Thono Magomola, an astute businessman born in a mining town on the West Rand, is one of those greats.<\/p>\n
In light of the Nelson Mandela centenary celebrations, we are shining the light on struggle heroes you do not hear of daily.<\/p>
Growing up Gaby was academically inclined, but as a young man growing up in apartheid he dropped out of school and joined the anti-apartheid struggle.<\/p>\n
His political awakening landed him on Robben Island in December 1963.<\/p>\n \u201cMy father, who thought I was an innocent school-going boy, was shocked out of his wits when he heard the evidence brought against us in the Magistrate\u2019s Court and Regional Court in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n \u201cHe stood up and repeatedly said \u2018Not Thono, my son\u2019,\u201d said Gaby.<\/p>\n Gaby was sentenced to Robben Island where he would serve his six-year sentence.<\/p>\n \u201cThe following year, the Rivonia trial group joined us.<\/p>\n \u201cI was prisoner 837-63 and among 17 prisoners suffering from tuberculosis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were kept in the old leprosy hospital away from the other prisoners.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it was within the wisdom of the prison officials to not let them (the Rivonia trial group) mix with the other prisoners in the other section.<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps they thought they would cause riots,\u201d Gaby joked.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember teaching Nelson and Ahmed Kathrada how to use the wheelbarrow,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Soon the Rivonia trial group was moved to a different section.<\/p>\n Gaby would have no contact with Madiba until they were both released.<\/p>\n During his time in prison Gaby occasionally played the trumpet which many enjoyed.<\/p>\n He bid farewell to the deceased by playing sombre tunes and happy ones when people were released.<\/p>\n His passion for music and politics was no match for his talent for finance, and realising this Gaby traded in his political career for that of finance.<\/p>\n In prison, Gaby completed his matric and bachelor of commerce degree through the University of South Africa (Unisa).<\/p>\n \u201cI remember being called into the warden\u2019s office to explain how I had obtained three distinctions while his colleagues who were studying the same course had not attained as much success as I had,\u201d said Gaby.<\/p>\n After his release, Gaby was banished to Polokwane for two years.<\/p>\n Gaby who now owns Summer Place Boutique Hotel in Germiston is no stranger to the city.<\/p>\n After his banishment was lifted, he worked at a petrol station in Germiston as a clerk while renting a room in Katlehong and kept a clean record.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s here in this city where he courted his wife, Nana Magomola, whom he\u2019s been with for 47 years.<\/p>\n \u201cIn 1976, I won a Fulbright scholarship to study towards a master\u2019s degree in business administration at Ball State University in Indiana,\u201d said Gaby.<\/p>\n Gaby and his family moved to the USA and returned to South Africa in 1982.<\/p>\n By this time Gaby was a respected banker, who fought for economic empowerment and affirmative action in SA.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember Tokyo Sexwale telling me that they would ask themselves if I was the little boy they had all met on Robben Island.<\/p>\n \u201cA few days after Nelson was released, my wife and I were one of the first people to see him.<\/p>\n \u201cHe invited us to the Carlton Hotel and we reminisced about our time on Robben Island.<\/p>\n \u201cOver time we became close and I always told him I aspired to become a businessman and he respected that.<\/p>\n \u201cHe made my wife a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n \u201cWe later went back to Robben Island together to recapture our time there.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a horror story because none of us had been back there since we had been released,\u201d said Gaby.<\/p>\n \u201cI had the privilege of meeting Nelson as a youngster and we should all make a big deal out of celebrating his life,\u201d said Gaby.<\/p>\n Gaby, the former politician, musician and now businessman, launched his memoir, Robben Island to Wall Street<\/em> in 2010.<\/p>\n In the book, he lucidly documents his formative years in a critical era in South Africa, his adult life and breaking ground in the world of finance.<\/p>\n Gaby, who has now tasked himself with changing the current status of tourism in Ekurhuleni, believes there is a richness to the city that needs to be seen by the world.<\/p>\n Have a story?<\/strong><\/p>\n Contact the newsroom by emailing: Melissa Hart (Editor)\u00a0<\/span>germistoncitynews@caxton.co.za<\/a><\/strong>or Leigh Hodgson (News Editor)\u00a0<\/span>leighh@caxton.co.za<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>or\u00a0Kgotsofalang Mashilo (journalist)\u00a0kgotsofalangm@caxton.co.za<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Remember to visit the Germiston City News on the following social media platforms:<\/p>\n Facebook<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Twitter<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Instagram<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n YouTube\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Or add the GCN on\u00a0<\/b><\/span>WhatsApp 079 406 1181<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>or\u00a0BBM (BBM Pin: 7F102137)<\/strong>\u00a0<\/b><\/span>today, to get all the latest news.<\/p>\n Catch-up on more local news with our sister newspapers\u00a0<\/span>Bedfordview Edenvale News<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0<\/span>Alberton Record<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Kempton Express<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2018\/07\/28GCNGENERALMAND_54247-520x390.jpg\")
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