A historic occasion played out at the East London International Convention Centre on Friday when belts for the Eastern Cape titles were officially unveiled by the provincial department of sports, recreation, arts & culture MEC Fezeka Nkomonye, in conjunction with Boxing SA.
The event marked the first time provincial titles would be accompanied by a token since it was launched during the apartheid regime when the province was demarcated as part of the Cape province.
While other provinces such as Gauteng had long introduced belts to go with their titles, the Eastern Cape was still stuck in the past until Nkomonye was appointed as MEC in 2019.
Soon after her appointment she embarked on healing the warring promoter factions, some of whom had taken the department to court over the distribution of the provincial government development fund.
The fund was discontinued for several years while warring parties slugged it out in court, rendering thousands of boxers inactive.
However Nkomonye activated the fund after inviting warring promoters to a workshop in Chintsa where the wheels of unlocking the cash were set in motion.
But there were several challenges. The reinstatement of the funding, amounting to R1m, could not be distributed by BSA since some promoters who had applied, failed to meet the requirements.
However BSA re-advertised the application, with four being successful to stage tournaments in various regions such as Alfred Nzo, Sarah Bartmann and two in Buffalo City Metro.
The tournaments will kick off on August 6 with a joint venture between X Promotions and Isizwe with Makanda or Kirkwood the likely venue.
The event will see newly crowned Eastern Cape featherweight champion Sange Ngoza defending his crown against Thabiso Zuke, making Mthatha-born Ngoza the first provincial champion to go home with the belt if he wins.
Fireworks Promotions will follow suit when they stage their show in Qonce, featuring Xolilse Voyi and Masixole Langa battling for the flyweight belt on August 21.
Seven days later it will be the turn of veteran promoter KK Promotions with Black Magiq completing the allocation with a show on September 24 in Mthatha.
Nkomonye hailed the move, describing it as the realisation of her dream when she took over the department.
“I can say I am also a legend because what is happening here has never happened before,” she said jokingly.
Nkomonye emphasised that promoters would be required to pay boxers a minimum purse for the provincial title bouts though she declined to reveal the figure, arguing that it would be determined by BSA as the administrators of the fund.
She also revealed that her department had already allocated the second batch of the funding which was increased by R200,000 to make it R1.2m.
Various speakers including BSA acting CEO Nsikayezwe Sithole as well as board member Mike Sodo said the move was in line with the sport strategic endeavours of reviving the game under the theme “renew, grow and transform”.
“We are grateful that during our term of office we had an MEC like you who helps us to fulfil our mandate as a board,” said Sodo.
Boxing legend and world title record holder Vuyani Bungu commended the introduction of the belts, arguing they would give young boxers impetus in their quest for the boxing summit.
Bungu, who burst onto the scene as a seven-fight novice when he dethroned long-standing provincial champion Saxon Ngqayimbana in 1988, said his boxing exploits had been shaped by first winning the provincial title.
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