After leaving Tanzanian boxers Jesca Mfinanga and Egine Kayange in the lurch, Fantastic 2 Boxing Promotions boss Elias Tshabalala has re-appeared and blamed his ‘sponsors’ for letting him down.
Tshabalala, who was unavailable from Friday afternoon until Monday morning, also blamed a ‘faulty’ cellphone which resulted in him not being able to address the non-payment of purses to Mfinanga and Kayange after they lost their African Boxing Union (ABU) fights more than a week ago.
Mfinanga lost to current ABU female flyweight champion Simangele Hadebe and Kayange was beaten by Monica Mkandla from Zimbabwe. The boxers have since been holed up at the Tanzanian Embassy in Pretoria.
“My phone gave me problems on Friday afternoon thus I was unavailable. I was let down by people who had agreed to sponsor my tournament. I explained that to the boxers after the fight and on the following morning. And they understood my predicament,” Tshabalala said.
“The Tanzanians were due to have left on the 24th of June, but they missed their flight because they refused to leave without having been paid even though I had told them that I was going to send the money to the Tanzanian Commission. I’m negotiating with another company with the hope that it will help me pay the boxers.”
Meanwhile, Innocent Evarist revealed that acting Boxing South Africa (BSA) director of operations Mncedisi Ngqumba visited them on Monday.
Evarist, a Tanzanian matchmaker who came with the boxers, said: “There’s no good news even though Mr Ngqumba from BSA visited us on Monday and promised to buy tickets so that we can return home. We are not going to leave without the money.”
Evarist added: “Elias called saying he had phone problems that’s why it was off. I told him to go speak to BSA. We don’t want to speak to him. We want our money.” – Monwabisi Jimlongo
