The Minister of Sport and Recreation, Mr Fikile Mbalula, has announced the names of the reconstituted Boxing SA Board. The Board will be headed by past Sport and Recreation Minister Ngconde Balfour.
The other members of the seven member board are Thabani Khumalo, Mandla Ntlanganiso, Dumile Mateza and Nontstantsa Lebaka and Muditambi Ravele.
Minister Mbalula said that in his decision regarding the board he was looking for people with a good knowledge of sport who would be able to lend their skills to the position. He decided on Balfour since he had both political authority and a background in sport, having previously held the sports minister portfolio, prior to Mr Makenkesi Stofile.
He reminded the board about the huge task that lay ahead to normalise the sport of boxing and put it back on track, a task that also included returning the relationship between amateur and professional boxing to normalcy. He expressed the wish that boxing would be granted its rightful amount of television airtime, referring to the fact that South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) hadn't broadcast the fight that won female boxer Noni Tenge her world title.
The present board's mandate expires on Wednesday, after which the new board will take office.
Boxing SA is a legislated body and receives funding directly from Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA). However legislation is currently being prepared that will see the body return to the status of a sports federation.
