Suspended Gauteng promoter Tshele Kometsi has vowed to fight his suspension by Boxing South Africa (BSA).
The TK Boxing Promotions boss was suspended by BSA on Monday after appearing at a discplinary committe instituted by the organisation. His hearing is set to continue next week.
The Gauteng Boxing Promoters Association (GBPA) chairperson is not taking his suspension lying down as he’s preparing to go to the high court.
“I’m fighting this suspension. I’m not taking this matter to the tribunal, the high court is where we are going,” Kometsi, who’s meeting with his lawyer on Monday evening, said.
Kometsi’s troubles started after his credit card was allegedly used by some BSA officers last year something which led to the suspension of the organisation’s former chief financial officer Thabang Moses in February this year for allegedly sending a driver to withdraw R14 000 from the card. Moses resigned from BSA last month.
A four minutes and 48 seconds voice note, which made rounds last September, suggested that after a withdrawal was made, the money was lying around at the BSA offices in Hatfield, Pretoria.
The latest developments have also resulted in BSA suspending TK Boxing Promotions’ tournament, which was scheduled for Uncle Tom’s Hall in Orlando West on Sunday.
“The status of my tournament is that BSA sanctioned the fights, I paid the purse monies,” Kometsi remarked.
“I was in communication with the provincial manager (Hloks Ramagole). He said to me that I must prepare security and a neurosurgeon. I agreed to do that. Two, three hours later, I received a letter from the acting CEO (Nsikayezwe Sithole) saying that my tournament has been suspended.”
Kometsi added that the cancellation of his tournament shows that BSA ‘does not care’ about the welfare of the boxers.
“What is the urgency? There are boxers that are preparing for this tournament. What do they say about the welfare of the boxers? If BSA is all about renewal, what are they saying about the boxers that have already spent money? Boxers are already training and have borrowed money. Who’s going to pay the 10 percent? Who’s going to carry the costs of all the arrangements that I have made? Money has already been spent here,” Kometsi said.
I commend BSA for taking swift action to prevent this type of behavior from its licencees. The article has the temerity to call out Thsele Kometsi and Thabang Moses yet it’s explicit in mentioning that his credit card was “allegedly used by some BSA officers last year”. Why not name these “some BSA officers”?
Just my curious mind.