Cosmo City’s body building champion
Young Tumi Mootane takes turns with other people to work out in a sparsely equipped shack gym, writes
A FITNESS centre operating in the shacklands of northern Johannesburg has produced a body building champion.
After winning a local title, Tumi Mootane was later featured on the popular SABC TV soapie
where he had a cameo role.
Old plastic packs, burners, wooden pallets, zinc sheets and other materials complete the centre which started in 2011 at Itsoseng informal settlement near Cosmo City.
The sparsely equipped gym boasts a few weights for weighlifting. About 18 people, including a few women, frequent the centre.
Because of limited space, members take turns to exercise over two sessions daily – from 7am to 10.30am and from 5pm to 8pm. Some train on Saturdays, even though official gym days are Monday to Friday.
Mootane is the success story to have come out of the centre. He started training at the gym six years ago.
“I started to gym here in 2011. I could have gone to any wellknown gym, but I decided to inspire and influence young people in my area to join gym,” he said.
After competing for the first time in a bodybuilding competition, he was crowned the “Chief of Cosmo City” and was awarded a trophy, a medal and a certificate. Tumi Mootane, 22, carries weights totalling 560kg as he prepares for a bodybuilding competition in March. The 22-year-old has no sponsor, but would like to compete overseas if he finds one. He recently shared the stage with singers Babes Wodumo and Mampintsha in a DStv advert. “It is humbling to share a stage with big names and … they were so approachable. “This was my third advert to shoot. Before that I was also featured on Mootane said.
The owner of the centre, Duncan Molatlhegi, said the facility was a step towards achieving his dream of becoming a personal trainer. And, he established it to take young people off the streets.
“The gym is free of charge and we have produced many wellshaped bodies.
“Tumi is one of the examples that this centre can do more if it had a bigger space and more equipment,” the enthusiastic Molatlhegi said.
Sello Meso is one of the three men who will take part in a bodybuilding competition shortly.
“I was inspired by Tumi to start exercising and now I want to showcase my body. My dream is to make money with my body,” Meso said.
Mootane is preparing for a bodybuilding competition in Soweto in March. Depending on how he fares, the event could be the break he had been dreaming of.