Boxing South Africa (BSA) chairperson Sifiso Shongwe strongly believes that deviating from regulations is equal to breaking the law and it’s something that has continued to hamstrung the sport in this country.
Shongwe was speaking after BSA’s two-day bosberaad, held at Misty Hills in Muldersdrift, Johannesburg.
“One of the key problems in boxing is the deviation from the regulations. Regulations are there as a guide and as a measure. As you know boxing is one of the sports that is regulated by an Act of parliament. Thereby, non-conformity or disregarding the Act is in essence breaking the law,” Shongwe said.
“It is the law that governs boxing. We need to follow it. I believe as administrators, as the regulator of boxing in South Africa, if we follow the law, there’ll be little else left for discussion. It closes a lot of loops and let us do our jobs in a much easier fashion.”
On the bosberaad itself, Shongwe added: “Day one was to set an objective as a board. What we want to achieve, what our key objectives are, what our board calendar will look like for the rest of the year.”
One of the most important duties for the board is giving support to BSA administrators as they attempt to pull the fistic sport out of the quagmire.
“The important dates we need to galvanise around to ensure we are discharging our duties of providing oversight to the regulation of boxing throughout the country. But also ensuring that we are offering adequate support to our executive in the organisation and our senior management teams,” Shongwe remarked.
Another BSA board member Dr Luvuyo Bayeni said: “Day one went smoothly as we were robust in our discussions. There was frankness, openness and I think we also managed to establish a rapport with the administrators in terms of understanding exactly how we prefer and would like to see this tenure going forward as Boxing South Africa.” – Monwabisi Jimlongo
