Committee appointed to attend to boxing licensing dispute

The controversy over boxing licence renewals is set to continue as Boxing SA is yet to take a decision regarding the request to suspend them this year.

This follows a meeting of the newly appointed BSA board which decided to appoint a special committee to attend to the matter.

The request was submitted by the Eastern Cape Boxing Promoters’ Association (ECBPA) after boxing was disrupted by the outbreak of Covid-19.

The pandemic brought operations to a standstill, with several boxing licensees including boxers unable to earn a living even though they had already paid licence fees.

“We felt that BSA should do the honourable thing and suspend licence renewals for this year,” ECBPA chair Thando Zonke said.

BSA acting CEO Cindy Nkomo confirmed that the matter was discussed at the board meeting, where a decision was deferred to a committee led by board member Suren Maharaj.

“The finance, organisational development and resource mobilisation committee headed by Mr Maharaj has been tasked to attend to the matter,” she said.

However, she could not say when the committee was expected to table its report.

In the meantime, licence renewals are continuing, with February 28 being the deadline since they were opened in November last year.

However, the February deadline has generally been ignored by licensees, forcing BSA to grant an extension until the end of this month.

“BSA will use the month of March to process all applications, facilitate the approvals by the board and release names of approved applicants before the new financial year which starts in April 1,” BSA said in a statement.

Owing to Covid-19, BSA has launched an online registration for renewals, with Nkomo saying the strategy is gathering momentum.

BSA said it was imperative for people to apply for licensing or renewals to formally participate in all boxing-related matters.

Licensing is part of the regulatory body’s source of funding, with the rest derived from sanctioning fees and government grants as BSA is governed by the Act of parliament.