Tanzanian female boxers Jesca Mfinanga and Egine Kayange are stranded in South Africa while Fantastic 2 Boxing Promotions boss Elias Tshabalala has vanished without paying them.
Not only Mfinanga and Kayange lost their African Boxing Union (ABU) fights last weekend, they are now unable to return home as matchmaker Innocent Evarist said that Tshabalala didn’t book them return tickets to Tanzania.
Mfinanga lost to current ABU female flyweight champion Simangele Hadebe and Kayange was beaten by Monica Mkandla from Zimbabwe. Evarist and the boxers are now holed up at the Tanzanian Embassy in Pretoria.
“We are asking BSA to help us and the government of South Africa to get our payment so that we can return home. We have families at home waiting. This is a very big problem,” Evarist, a Tanzanian matchmaker who came with the boxers, said.
“I trusted the promoter. A lot of people at home in Tanzania think I took money and ate it. The promoter did not pay me. I asked the promoter about the payment before the weigh-in and he assured me that it was safe.
“If Tanzania had done this to the people of South Africa, would you agree with it? We were not treated fairly even by the referee. We were not paid. We live in the embassy and we do not know our fate. Please help us with payment and three tickets to return home.”
Contacted for comment, ABU vice-president Dr Peter Ngatane said: “I have spoken to Innocent. It seems there’s a problem with the promoter’s finances. The promoter lied to the boxers. The promoter is ducking and diving. I can’t find him. This is a very sad situation. It reflects badly on South Africa.”
Interestingly, Tshabalala paid sanctioning fees to the ABU thus the two fights went ahead.
“I wouldn’t have allowed my officials to go into the ring if they were not paid,” Ngatane, a former Boxing South Africa (BSA) board chairperson, said.
Acting BSA chief executive officer Mandla Ntlanganiso said when contacted on Sunday: “This is bad. We are going to deal with this matter on Monday.”
Efforts to get a comment from Tshabalala failed as his cellphone was consistently on voicemail. – Monwabisi Jimlongo
What happens to the money that was paid to Dr Peter Ngatane he should spend that money towards getting them back to Tanzania…With his attitude, I am surprised that he is still involved with boxing in any form???