The Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation SA; Honourable Gert Oosthuizen,
Members of Parliament,
Members of Provincial Executive Councils,
President and CEO of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC),
President and Board of Boxing South Africa,
Our facilitators and presenters,
Distinguished guests and delegates,
People of the media,
Ladies and gentlemen.
Delegates, it is a great honour and privilege for me to rise before you this afternoon to share with you some thoughts and deliver to you this Keynote Address on behalf of the Ministry of Sport and Recreation South Africa and on behalf of the entire body of sport loving South Africans.
Delegates and distinguished guests, for the next two days we have assembled to talk and deliberate on matters concerning Boxing in South Africa. Our entire nation is looking with anticipation to the deliberations and outcomes of this historic gathering.
At the heart of our deliberations should be the interest of the boxer. Our people are investing their trust in you, delegates, that this time around you would be able to ‘Turn-Around’ Boxing in South Africa and finally “Map the Future of Boxing’ in our country.
We urge that this Conference should not be reduced into a circus to discuss personalities and individual self-interests. We should not attempt to use this platform to attack individuals and promote personal glory. We should collectively save Boxing from this shame it found itself in.
This forum should not be used as a platform to promote friends and devise strategies to access power or to have access to those who have access to power for personal gain. It should only be utilized to promote the athlete and lay a solid foundation for a prosperous future for the boxer. It should be a platform for a festival of constructive engagement and a theatre of robust debates to position boxing to win all the battles ahead.
The youth of this country in their quest to take up boxing as the preferred sport and career are looking upon this Indaba to provide answers to their questions and dreams for access, participation and support in their endeavour to succeed in their sporting dreams.
They are looking upon you to open up opportunities for them to participate in sport; and to devise sustainable strategies to resource and equip their townships with necessary infrastructure to take part in boxing and display their potential in this sport.
We are raising the plight of our youth inspired by the words and experience of a young cyclist from Khayelitsha in Cape Town when he said:
“For me to lose my parents at a young age, it was one of the biggest challenges I’ve had to face in my life… to grow up without the support of parents, it was very difficult, but then I actually got to know the sport of cycling, that’s when I decided, ok, I just have to do this… no one is able to ride the bike for you… even if my parents were there they wouldn’t ride the bike for me… so at the end of the day it just depends what you want in life… I decided I just have to do what I have to do because I love the sport”.
This is just but one battle cry from our young generation for help and support in order for them to reach their dream. It is incumbent on this gathering not to shatter the dreams of millions of young people like Songezo Jim in other sporting codes including Boxing. We need sobering minds to assist these young people to achieve and live their dreams; we need to give them hope.
When Songezo became the first black person to participate on the elite International Cycling Union’s World Tour in Italy, he shared his experience and said:
“It was like all the wind, rain, snow and ice thrown on me… I’ve never been that cold in my whole life… it was snowing, it was wet and the rain kept coming down hard on me… I was riding with my eyes closed at some points because there was no visibility with sunglasses, but when you took them off the snow went into your eyes… I was thinking, ‘Why am I doing this, this is horrible, ‘But then I thought, ‘This is what I’ve dreamed about. I would not want to be anywhere else in the world… I love sport”.
Delegates, we are therefore called upon to take this opportunity and valuable time provided to us and join together our heads and minds to construct a ‘Collective Case for Boxing’ in particular and sport in general in South Africa. We must journey, together, committed in our collective wisdom to change the Boxing landscape in our country for the better.
Indeed, we are here today representing the aspirations of millions of stakeholders and boxing loving people in our country. We come from different Provinces of our land with a common conviction to uplift the standard of the Boxer in particular and Boxing in general represented by our organized formations in the form of SASCOC, our boxing bodies, managers, trainers, promoters, funders and sponsors, business, public entities, civil society and government and members of our legislatures to chart a long-lasting way forward for an optimal and functional boxing system in South Africa.
As we emerged from our successful Provincial Boxing Izindaba few weeks ago; we are here to consolidate the voice and will of the boxing fraternity in our country and make it a collective voice that will transcend many generations to come to know that our intention was not to reward mediocrity but success and excellence.
We are drawing inspiration from the successful hosting of our National Sport and Recreation Indaba (NSRI) in November 2011 and will benefit immensely from the inputs from our different provinces and friends who will share with us their luminous thought during the course of this weekend.
We are going to share and learn more with great interest from the entire body of boxing personalities and legends, boxers, administrators, trainers, academics, and from all the delegates gathered here, stories of triumph and recipes for success and excellence and how to change the face of this heritage we call boxing.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here exactly forty one days after South Africa paid a fitting tribute to one of South Africa’s boxing legends, Dr Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela – a sportsman in his own right, a freedom fighter, a human rights activist, a prisoner, a president, a statesman and a father of our nation.
As a nation we did this to re-affirm our collective effort to use sport to build a united South Africa and a socially cohesive country; a nation that is “united in its diversity”. We did this together with our sportsmen and women to celebrate the legacy of tata Mandela in sport and bring unity in our country. We showcased the power of sport to re-build the burnt bridges of friendship, human solidarity and common human progress.
As we hold this National Boxing Indaba this weekend to ‘Map the Future of Boxing in South Africa’, we must do so to also celebrate one of our heritages in sport – Boxing. We must do so in the same spirit and vigour as our people have celebrated the South Africa Heritage Day on the 24 September 2013 in Mdantsane under the theme “reclaiming, restoring and celebration”. This year’s National Heritage Day took place in one of the oldest and biggest townships of the Republic at eMdantsane - the Mecca of Boxing in the Republic of South Africa.
It is for this reason, therefore, that this weekend, as this generation of sport and recreation fraternity in South Africa we will need to march in unison to “reclaim, restore and celebrate” the sport of boxing in our land as one of our sport heritages that still need our undivided focus and support.
We must do that to reclaim the pride of our people and the glory of the sport of boxing; we need to restore the dignity of the boxer first; and celebrate the unity of all the stakeholders in sport including celebrating the role of the trainers, promoters, sponsors and fans.
We need to be united in our collective conviction and wisdom to do good for the sport of boxing and make boxing a sport of choice for millions of the South African youth. It is therefore the onus of this National Boxing Indaba to finally change the face of boxing in our country and the world.
I am raising these matters above because historically, boxing has been the pride of the South African nation; it has been one of the weapons of struggle; it has put our youth out of streets and kept them physically fit for the battles ahead.
Boxing united our people in their unreserved support for boxing and their boxing heroes during the difficult time in this country; it has put smiles and tears in the faces of millions of our people when they watched, during early hours of the morning, their heroes fighting serious battles with both domestic and foreign champions; it has glued this nation together during good and bad times.
We need to commit to the nation and the world that the deep-seated challenges engulfing boxing today will be dealt with by this Indaba head-on and decisively; and are turned into a river of opportunities for the benefit of the country and all boxing stakeholders in South Africa, especially the boxers themselves. As this generation in sport today we must all commit to give hope to all the boxers and boxing legends that we will turn-around boxing for the better; and I believe that no one can stop us!
Ladies and Gentlemen, as the 2010 National Boxing Indaba resolved to “increasing interest in boxing and growing boxing as a sport”, we need to live up to that task of turning-around boxing in order to realize the objectives of our constituencies as represented in the Indaba, especially the task of reviving boxing in South Africa and return it to its previous glory; and promote and protect the dignity of boxers in this country.
In promoting and protecting the dignity of our boxers by providing them with all the requisite support we will be responding to a number of challenges they face when they take up sport. For an example, in his closing remarks, the 22 year old Songezo Jim says:
“In order to become a cyclist, it requires you to be dedicated and your family to be behind you because you have to buy bikes, helmets and shoes… I was so fortunate to be part of the Velokhaya Cycling in Khayelitsha; the Ministry of Sport donated cycling equipment and attire to us, it was awesome”.
Therefore, this conference should respond to that cry for support in terms of sport equipment and sport attire for our athletes especially our amateurs, upcoming boxing champions and women in boxing.
It is for this reason that when on the occasion of my conversation with previous Ministers of Sport and Recreation South Africa in my few days as Minister of Sport and Recreation in South Africa I asked about the state of boxing in South Africa. During that engagement Former Minister Honourable Ngconde Balfour gave me a brief historical view about boxing in South Africa.
On the one hand Minister Balfour had this to say:
“When I took over the department in 1999, the then former Minister, Mr Steve Tshwete, on his handover, gave me a brief on how he had this kind of challenge with boxing… so he left me with that kind of a challenge and with other challenges in relation to sport… clearly indicating to me that boxing needs to be looked at… as to help develop boxing.
On the other hand Honourable Rev. Makhenkesi Stofile briefed me that:
“Former Minister Balfour repealed the Boxing and Wrestling Act of 1954 in 1999 to give effect to the new Boxing Act number 11 of 2001… to ensure effective and efficient administration of professional boxing in South Africa… whilst at the same time promotes boxing in South Africa… however boxing in our country is engulfed by a plethora of problems since the establishment of Boxing South Africa we have the challenge of finances and broadcasting”.
Ladies and gentlemen, thus in 2010 when we received our mandate to run sport and recreation in this country and as part of our road show meetings with all our stakeholders we had briefings with the previous sport leadership.
During this period we met with Boxing South Africa (BSA) with an aim and objective to receive a brief from the Board of BSA as to understand the current challenges facing boxing in South Africa and together with the Board to chart a way forward towards the resolution of the challenges facing the sport of boxing in our country, as well as to reposition boxing on the international stage.
These meetings found consensus on a number of critical areas in the life of boxing in the Republic. We resolved on the restoration of boxing and inspiration of confidence in the eyes of many South Africans, especially those with the boxing interests at heart.
It is our carefully considered view that boxing as a sport is plagued by a number of challenges. Key among these challenges includes the unfair treatment of boxers. In any sport, the athlete needs to be at the centre stage of all we do. Administrators, coaches, ring officials, judges, managers and all have to accept that they are all there to make it happen for the boxer. We are therefore repositioning the sport of boxing to focus on the boxer and make the boxer the main beneficiary of all we do.
Gone should be the days when our champions lose titles without the opportunity to defend. This is a sorry state of affairs when promoters who should promote the fights for the Boxers fail boxers in this regard. We should not allow the relationship between boxers and promoters to deteriorate further to that of a master and a slave.
A healthy relationship is required to ensure that all stakeholders benefit. We remain deeply concerned at the calls by boxers who call upon us to do something and fight in their corner.
It cannot be right that emerging promoters, who happened to be black and female, are also given a raw deal in terms of accessing key opportunities to promote fights and develop their products to the level of TV readiness. We are further concerned at the cartel type of set-up and ‘barriers to trade’ where venues are monopolized and mortgaged to the mighty few to the exclusion of all others.
This is not good for the development and growth of boxing as a sport. This matter of access to venues has to be addressed. We have to break the backbone of monopolies and cartels in boxing. As the Ministry of Sport and Recreation, we took it upon ourselves to resolve all the pertinent issues that result in a crisis in boxing.
The National Sport and Recreation Indaba in November 2011 further mandated us to give special attention to Boxing South Africa and its affairs. The National Sport and Recreation Indaba mandated us to focus on the following matters of strategic importance if we want to make a case for boxing in South Africa.
Firstly we had to deal with the matter of corporate governance in BSA; secondly to look in the matter of the Chief Executive Officer; thirdly to focus on getting a qualified Chief Financial Officer as per the dictates of the Public Finance Management Act (PMFA); fourthly to interrogate the liabilities of Boxing South Africa; fifthly to assist BSA to negotiate broadcasting rights; sixthly to support amateur boxing through assisting SANABO and promoting women’s boxing; seventhly to look at matters of funding including sponsorship for boxing; and finally to deal with all matters relating to the disunity existing within the sport of boxing with a special focus on, amongst others, promoters, stables, TV channels as well as BSA itself.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is pleasing to inform this Conference that we have since put in place a number of interventions, measures and processes to change the ugly face of boxing in South Africa into a better condition. We have begun the process of turning around Boxing South Africa since 2010 and at the resultant 2011 National Sport and Recreation Indaba.
As a result we can proudly report to this Conference that Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) seconded a Senior Manager to BSA to conduct a fact-finding mission and to diagnose the core findings and challenges facing BSA. The diagnostic report was presented to the Auditor-General for approval and an implementation plan was drafted and adopted; as a result most of the key recommendations have already been implemented.
Our plan managed to recruit the CEO and the CFO, as well as the establishment of a functional Audit Committee. Our Internal Audit Directorate has been mandated to also assume Internal Audit Functions of Boxing South Africa. The department has since seconded a member from its Audit Committee to serve as a liaison to the Audit Committee of Boxing SA.
As a result of these interventions SRSA has also paid the long standing debts of BSA. This payment helped BSA to address its long standing undesirable financial situation. This also addresses issues of BSA being a “going concern”. In this regard, we are working very hard to improve the revenue collection of Boxing South Africa; this includes reviewing the current budget baseline of BSA.
We are therefore delighted to inform the Indaba that there is an encouraging improvement in the affairs of Boxing South Africa. During 2010/11 Financial Period, we found BSA had a shocking Disclaimer. We put systems in place to help them improve; during 2011-2012 Financial Period BSA received a Qualified Audit Report and during 2012/13 they received an Unqualified Audit Opinion from the Auditor-General.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we remain convinced that we have made a significant breakthrough in the affairs of Boxing South Africa and we remain in high spirits to witness this on-going progress in BSA and in the sport of boxing in South Africa. We would therefore like to call on the Indabato march together with us to the final destiny to rescue boxing from dismay.
What is the major challenge at this moment is the matter of Broadcasting Rights which should be transferred to BSA. It is our belief that the finalization of this important matter will finally address the challenge of revenue collection faced by BSA and also address the equitable distribution of this revenue in a most transparent and accountable manner.
We are confident that this will immensely contribute to the sustainability of boxing. It will also ensure that Boxers and other stakeholders benefit from the sport. The South African Boxing Titles and Belts belong to Boxing South Africa on behalf of government and no one else. BSA in return holds these titles on behalf of government as our public entity.
The government also holds these titles on behalf of the people of South Africa as a whole as the true and legitimate elected government of the people, by the people for the people.
It is why I would like to call upon all delegates to conduct this Boxing Indaba with the dignity it deserves and to remember all those boxing heroes and heroines who fought hard to make us proud during despair. We must do so to foster a sense of hope to our young people who wish to participate in boxing.
We must do so to bring smiles on the faces of all South Africans when they are glued in front of their TVs to enjoy the sport of boxing. We must do this to bring back our national pride in this sport and deliver our boys and girls onto the international platform ready, eager and confident to become world beaters
We must put the boxer first in all our endeavors; our nation and people need to wake-up and stand firm by all our sport and recreation heroes and heroines, including our boxing legends and protect them with everything we have. We must take good care of our boxers. We must refrain from deliberately impoverishing our boxers. We should refuse to continue to bury our boxers and legends as paupers. We must build their financial base by providing necessary support for their success. We must refuse to be a nation of laughing stocks among the community of nations.
We are committed to this cause. We should not allow ourselves to be cowed into accepting abnormal situations as normal. We hold no brief for anyone except for the Boxer who in this sad scenario is an underdog. We are committed to work with all stakeholders and have no specific intention of fighting any stakeholder in boxing.
We however strongly feel that boxers cannot continue to slaves that receive crumbs that fall of the table of the masters. We remain resolute and steadfast in our commitment to challenging this status quo and bringing hope to the youth of our country keen to enter the sport of boxing. Therefore, the boxer is the boss; and the boss must be the boxing who receives punches in the ring!
The Boxers purse and their pensions should be given priority focus and minimum standards should be set and regulated. We will not be able to sleep peacefully until the plight of the boxer is addressed. Regulations have to be strengthened to close the gaps and the loop holes we’ve noticed and improve BSA’s capacity as a regulatory body for improved outcomes.
Delegates, I therefore call upon you to respond to the cries of the boxing youth in Mdantsane, Soweto, Khayelitsha, Eldorado Park, Kuruman, Nquthu, Polokwane, Nelspruit, Kwa-Mashu, Klerksdorp, Botshabelo, and elsewhere in the country where our people are trapped in poverty, unemployment and deepening inequalities.
This Indaba should not be held to ransom by self-seeking individuals and personal interests at the expense of our national priorities. We need extra-ordinary commitment to this cause of a better life for all our sportsmen and women.
This cause calls for sober minds, selflessness and determination and a commitment to uplift the standard of all our people for the better. It calls for self-introspection. We dare not fail in this mission. Galvanise the future of boxing for the boxer. It is in our reach, it is in our capacity, it is before us, seize the moment!
We cannot fail the future generations in Boxing! You must adapt or die!
I thank you!
