Xaba Promotions boss Ayanda Matiti refuses to give up despite the arbitrator Advocate Keitumetse Johanna Mogale-Makinta ruling against him in his bid to have South African junior-featherweight champion Siyabulela Hem challenge current SA featherweight titlist Lindelani Sibisi.
Matiti got aggrieved after the arbitrator’s ruling said: “The sanctioning of the bout between Lindelani Sibisi and Siyabulela Hem is hereby reviewed and set aside. The bout between Lindelani Sibisi and Bongani Fule, scheduled for 28 March 2026, is declared validly sanctioned mandatory championship contest.”
In a letter to Boxing South Africa (BSA) board chairperson Ayanda Zamantungwa Khumalo and BSA chief executive officer Tsholofelo Lejaka, Matiti, through his lawyer Akhona Mafani, said that Mogale-Makinta and her committee erred in their ruling thus he’s taking the matter to court.
“Our client’s intention is to approach the relevant court for a review application. Our client disagrees with the ruling of the tribunal and contends, respectively, that the tribunal misdirected itself when it excluded a champion sitting in a different division from the spirit and purport of Regulation 17,” Mafani wrote in the letter.
BSA sanctioning committee chairperson Irvin Buhlalu, Fule’s manager Andile Mshumpela, Lindelani Sibisi’s promoter Hlula Dladla as well as his manager Colin Nathan were copied in the letter.
