By Monwabisi Jimlongo
Award-winning and accomplished trainer-cum-manager Colin ‘Nomakanjani’ Nathan has begged Minister of Sport Zizi Kodwa to roll up his sleeves and clean up South African boxing.
Speaking on 94.7fm on Monday evening, Nathan fired a broadside at the leadership of Boxing South Africa (BSA) and revealed problems that continue to bedevil the fistic sport in the country.
“I’m begging him to fix the sport because it’s in tatters, it’s in pieces. We need a new look. The damage that the outgoing board has caused, along with the acting CEO (Erick Nsikayezwe Sithole), and there’s one or two people behind the scenes, we all know who we are talking about here,” Nathan said.
“I hope to God that they never set foot into a boxing tournament again. The Sport Minister has the power to make the sport right, to do right by the sport.”
Some of the things that continue to rub Nathan up the wrong way include the number of postponed tournaments and late payment of boxers’ purses.
“The most important aspect of boxing is the boxer. There’s a commission which is supposed to do two things, one is administratively, two is to protect the fighter. I don’t think these are being covered,” Nathan said.
“If you look at this year alone, there has been so many cancellations of tournaments. Fighters cutting weight, told a day before that the fight is off. Fighters going to a venue, not being told that the fight is not gonna take place. The commission is not following the Act. The Act is clear, the 2001 Act had 30 days prior has been amended to 14 days prior. The rules are being flouted. Fighters are getting paid only three weeks after their fights. It’s just ridiculous.”
Speaking at the South African Boxing Awards ceremony at Durban’s Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre (ICC) in June this year, Kodwa said: “I don’t think Boxing South Africa is at a level where all of us expect it to be. Personally, as a Minister of Arts and Culture I’m not happy about the level of Boxing South Africa now, but there is room for improvement.
“We need to work together with the leadership as well as the board to lift up Boxing South Africa to where it was. Let us take off what we can do, all of us, to elevate boxing in this country to another level. Boxing was one of the top three sports in the country, it’s all in our hands. Under my leadership, I’m committed to make sure that we bring boxing back to its glory days.”
