Accompanied by acting Eastern Cape Boxing South Africa (BSA) manager Phakamile Jacobs, BSA chief executive officer Tsholofelo Lejaka and the organisation’s director of operations Mandla Ntlanganiso paid former female world champion Noni Tenge a visit this week.
The BSA bosses visited Tenge’s home in Mdantsane after Vuyolomzi Mtekwana had called them out of concern for the erstwhile International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Federation (WBF) welterweight and WBF female junior-middleweight titlist’s health.
“In the evening of Tuesday, 31 March 2026, the delegation from Boxing SA led by the CEO visited Noni Tenge at her homestead in Mdantsane. The visit came about following an update from Mr Vido Mtekwana that there are some concerns regarding Noni’s health condition,” a BSA statement said.
The BSA bosses’ visit followed more than a month after Ubuntu Boxing Fraternity (UBF) had visited Tenge, who last fought when she stopped Mapule Ngubane in the fifth round during a WBF junior-middleweight title contest at the Mdantsane Indoor Sports Centre in August 2019.
Meanwhile, the BSA bosses also met representatives from the Eastern Cape Managers and Trainers Association where they discussed matters of mutual interest.
Purse monies were the key issues that were discussed during the meeting as the managers and trainers have been vocal on their rejection of a R1000 per round. They have been calling for boxers to be paid R2500 per round.
It was also expected that Jacobs, Lejaka and Ntlanganiso would visit boxing trainer Mzamo ‘Chief’ Njekanye’s gym in Duncan Village. But the visit never took place.
The visit would have been necessitated by a video taken from Njekanye’s gym where it looked like the safety of boxers was highly compromised during a sparring session.
“Due to time constraints, the visit was only limited to Noni’s homestead. The visit to the gym in Duncan could not happen,” Lejaka concluded. – Monwabisi Jimlongo
