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With a new board in charge all is well at Boxing SA

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BSA chief executive Tsholofelo Lejaka is proud of the good, hard work done last year   Picture: Themba Makofane
BSA chief executive Tsholofelo Lejaka is proud of the good, hard work done last year Picture: Themba Makofane

Like a battle-scarred warrior walking chin up out of yet another battlefield, Boxing SA (BSA) marched proudly into the dusk of last year. With a rhythm in the drill and melody on the lip, BSA’s flag was hoisted high up in the sky as we led our crusade of the fistic battalions back to rear base to recharge and reflect on the year that was.

For us, the pugilist family, life is war and our business is battle. We have to fight, not because we are about combat sport, but because the day we cease to fight will be the day we cease to exist. With an ever-shrinking resource base and ever-rising contestation for opportunities, we are under siege.

From sponsorship to partnership and broadcast opportunities, we have to knock the loudest and persuade the hardest. We have to compete fiercely against other national priorities for funds from the public purse, and for our domestic hegemony and sectoral authority. We have to fight for our space and struggle to stamp our authority.

Like any other fight, we might emerge scarred, but we emerge victorious. The scars we carry are but badges of war, and testimony of how bravely we fight and how smartly we box to earn the victories we are now celebrating.

Last year commenced under the command of a new board, chaired by veteran boxing administrator and medical practitioner Dr Malefetsane Peter Ngatane. The board was appointed on December 14 2017, taking over from the board that was chaired by the iron lady of sport Muditambi Ravele.

The new board hit the ground running and didn’t delay in bringing in new ideas and facilitate the review of business processes. It is commendable that this change in guard was impeccably seamless and was a true demonstration of the maturity of our organisation and stability of our systems.

The board also moved swiftly to strengthen our oversight and operational committees by reinforcing the organisation with new members, who brought in new skills, knowledge and experience. It was therefore not surprising to see reduced complaints about the work of our ratings and sanction committees after Khulile Radu was appointed to lead the sanction committee and Andre de Vries the ratings committee.

Moruti Mthalane of South Africa beat Muhammad Waseem of Pakistan to be crowned the IBF Flyweight World champion on July 15, 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Picture: How Foo Yeen/Getty Images

One of our most dedicated ringside physicians, Dr Robert Selepe, was appointed chief medical officer and chairperson of our medical committee. This committee institutionalised and standardised our medical practices and systems, and ensured that solid medical risk mitigation measures were put in place to protect our boxers. It is because of the work of this committee that, today, all boxers older than 35 are expected to undergo brain scans before being allowed to continue with their careers.

Stability in our governance and administration was signified by yet another unqualified external audit outcome.

Of course, there are still some setbacks that need to be mentioned; one of them is the number of litigation matters that the BSA is facing.

The number of cases the organisation faces at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, as well as the labour court, are worryingly high and they all emanate from the period preceding 2015. This is something that we are watching closely and managing tightly. At this point, we are confident that it is a risk we have under control and we have faith in the righteousness of our position, the merits of our arguments and the fairness of our justice system.

Our two flagship programmes are the SA Boxing Awards and the Women in Boxing programme. We are glad that we managed to deliver yet another successful edition of the awards last year. The hard work of women in the boxing committee, which is chaired by Zandi Kabini, was outstanding and enabled us to exceed 100 licenced woman boxers for the first time.

We were also able to introduce a new programme when we hosted the inaugural regional convention of all professional boxing commissions in the Southern African Development Community region, called the Southern African Boxing Convention. Held in May to coincide with the Africa Month celebrations, seven boxing commissions in the region converged in South Africa to discuss African solutions for African problems in boxing.

One can safely argue that last year was one of the most successful years of boxing we have had in decades. The number of word title belts increased from seven to 12 by July. The five new world champions joined Bukiwe Nonina, Unathi Myekeni, Noni Tenge, Kevin Lerena, Simphiwe Konco, Gideon Buthelezi and Zolani Tete.

Xolisani “Nomeva” Ndongeni was too good for Abraham Ndauendapo and thus won the WBF Lightweight World title at the Time Square Arena, Menlyn on April 5 last year Picture: Muzi Ntombela / BackpagePix

. Xolisani “Nomeva” Ndongeni defeated Abraham Ndauendapo at Sun Arena in Pretoria to claim the vacant World Boxing Federation lightweight title in April;

. Hekkie “The Hexecutioner” Budler became the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Association light flyweight champion, and also won the elusive The Ring magazine belt after defeating Ryoichi Taguchi in Tokyo, Japan, in May;

. Thulani “Evolution” Mbenge outpointed Diego Gabriel Chaves to win the vacant International Boxing Organisation welterweight title in June; and

. In July, Moruti “Babyface” Mthalane became the IBF flyweight champion after defeating Muhammad Waseem in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The BSA unveiled newly designed national title belts on November 2 as part of the work we are doing to bring glory and prestige to national titles.

Like a warrior in a war, we can only retreat for a little while to recharge and restrategise. The new year is already upon us like an opponent across the ring; like a fierce contender waiting for the bell to ring. This year, we will:

. Prioritise and intensify our licensee training programme. Working with some of our retired boxing administrators and veterans, we will resume the training of licensees. Our focus last year was mainly on boxers, specifically regarding doping, and we will focus on ring officials and promoters this year;

. Improve our licensee registration process to ensure that we accept the right people with the right qualities into our respective categories. Our biggest success indicator in this case will be to ensure that, by April, each licensee has received his/her license/identification tag;

The new board hit the ground running and didn’t delay in bringing in new ideas and facilitate the review of business processes.

. Spark intersectoral dialogue within the boxing community. This will be kicked off with our engagement at a promoters’ workshop at the end of this month. We generated a lot of documentation last year, which we need licensees’ input and buy-in on, including a revenue generation strategy, the proposed sanction fees model and proposed amendments on boxing regulations, among other documents; and

. Begin in earnest with preparations for the boxing convention scheduled to take place in February next year. The convention hasn’t been held for a while and we would like to use this year to prepare for it, hence our approach to spark structured intrasectoral dialogue so that we are able to shape the issues and narrow down areas of convergence ahead of the convention.

All that was achieved last year would definitely not have materialised were not for the dynamic nature of the boxing community and its endless love for the sport. They deserve special gratitude and a salute of honour. We can only hope that they’ve had a restful year-end vacation filled with love and laughter. We hope to see them back on this year’s battlefield, rejuvenated and ready for war.

Remember, ours is like the life of buffalo soldiers; soldiers driven from the mainland to the periphery of their historical terrain. Until we win our mainland back, we’ll keep “fighting on arrival; fighting for survival”!

Lejaka is the chief executive of BSA



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