By Monwabisi Jimlongo
Mandla Ntlanganiso, the recently-appointed accounting authority at Boxing South Africa (BSA), strongly believes that the Eastern Cape would have gone far had it not been for petty politics, which continue to bedevil the fistic sport.
Speaking during the launch of Mzi Booi’s promotional outfit, Kay B Promotions, in Beacon Bay, East London, on Sunday, Ntlanganiso challenged Eastern Cape boxing people to change their focus if they want the sport to succeed.
“I think our problems and challenges, particularly in this region and this province, it’s politics. Everything we do is politically aligned, sometimes misdirecting where a particular energy needs to go to because we have no excuse when it comes to talent. East London, Eastern Cape, Ziphunzana, Qonce, there is massive talent when it comes to boxing, but we don’t use that and maximise the talent that we have,” Ntlanganiso remarked.
Ntlanganiso, who joined the boxing regulator as its director of operations in January 2022, was thrown into the wolves when the previous BSA board suspended him and then failed to charge him thus violating the Labour Relations Act.
Ntlanganiso was suspended on the 10th of August and the previous board left office on the 11th of December without having charged him. This was against the Labour Relations Act – Clause 8.2(c) on precautionary suspension: “If an employee is suspended or transferred as a precautionary measure, the employer must hold a disciplinary hearing within a month or 60 days, depending on the complexity of the matter and the length of the investigation. The chairperson of the hearing must decide on any further postponement.”
Ntlanganiso said on Sunday: “We are not aligned in terms of repositioning boxing to be an attractive sport for the Eastern Cape and for South Africa. We need to re-organise and make sure that the issue infrastructure we are able to talk to it. We need to up the game.”
