Sports minister Gayton McKenzie breathed life into boxing at the national convention in East London this week, but few delegates realised the full extent of the Lazarus act that he performed.
He disclosed early on that the benevolent fund set aside for injured boxers had been denuded of millions and promised an independent investigation facilitated by his department.
The fund is the tip of a financial fiasco at Boxing South Africa (BSA), with the latest annual report for 2023/24 reading like a horror story.
The regulator, a statutory body governed by an act of parliament, blew more than R43m in the 12-month period, notching up a R10m deficit as employee-related costs doubled to more than R20m, eating up most of the R24m government grant.
The auditor-general gave BSA a qualified opinion, listing, among other things, an inadequate system of internal controls for recording transactions, a complaint that has featured regularly in the annual reports.
The AG also highlighted irregular expenditure of R2.4m, including R1.2m made to BSA’s previous attorney. The organisation’s total irregular expenditure over the years is now north of R15m. There has been no consequence management for any of these breaches.
BSA also spent nearly R2.4m on donations and sponsorship.
A probe is long overdue and McKenzie’s newly appointed BSA board, chaired by Ayanda Khumalo, has its work cut out. But the minister, old enough to remember the excitement of waking up early to watch the likes of Gerrie Coetzee, Dingaan Thobela and Brian Mitchell fighting in the US, believes there is hope for pugilism.
The old-time stars they rolled out, like Sugar Boy Malinga, Vuyani Bungu and Mbulelo Botile, added to the feel-good vibe.
Other speakers also offered optimistic outlooks. Nielsen Sports SA MD Tumelo Selikane pointed out that boxing, as a TV sport, ranked fifth in South Africa last year.
PSL general manager Ace Ngcobo suggested boxing leagues of professional and amateur clubs operating along the lines of football, saying his organisation would help set it up.
SuperSport’s Graham Abrahams recommended BSA drop off the statute books and become a regular federation, perhaps uniting with the amateur body.
Some delegates recalled the good old days when the SABC flighted live boxing on Sunday afternoons and fanciful national title belts were sponsored by Old Buck, but McKenzie warned they needed new innovations. If SABC won’t bring boxing back to Sundays, look at streaming, he suggested.
Among the delegates were some who played a role in the sport’s decline.
Jeff Ellis, who has served in every capacity possible in boxing, needed only three words to highlight one of the biggest problems in professional boxing over the past several years — BSA failing to enforce the Boxing Act: “Do your duty!”
McKenzie announced his department would write off a R2.5m loan to BSA, and that it would fund a series of tournaments in honour of predecessor Steve Tshwete later this year to give boxers more action; about a third of the 750-odd registered fighters were inactive last year. The department will also fund the repairs of the Orient Theatre, East London’s famous “slaughter house” venue, which will stage the final show in the series.
For now there is hope in the sport.
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