Lifelong mission to fight the good fight
David Isaacson talks to Ntambi Ravele, the first woman to chair Boxing SA
What’s your most embarrassing moment in sport? I was the chef de mission for the SA team to the Youth (under-20) Zone 6 Games in Mozambique. We were staying at a hotel in the middle of Maputo and as part of the policy at the time, we brought condoms for the team as a safety measure.
I came in one day and the hotel manager was mad. Guess what our athletes were doing . . . water bombs with condoms.
They were throwing these water bombs through the windows and hitting people who were walking in town. I didn’t know what to say to the manager — I kept on apologising, but for how long do you apologise?
Where did you grow up? In Soweto, in Chiawelo. After 1976 my parents moved to Venda and I studied to matric there and then came to Pretoria in 1983 to study physical education at a teacher training college. I have been here ever since.
Why phys ed? When I was growing up I didn’t have female teachers who were involved in sport.
Whenever we played sport it was always male teachers and something knocked into my head that I wanted to be a sports teacher. It stuck in my mind from primary school. That’s where I learnt about many different sporting codes. You have also been an activist, fighting for women to be allowed to box in SA We made a presentation to the portfolio committee (in parliament) in 1998. We challenged the act to say there is something wrong. When they did the new bill in 2000 we went there again to say they must change that again. They did. You also took on the International Olympic Committee In 1999 SA hosted the All Africa Games. We [Women and Sport SA] picked up in the games rules and regulations that they would do gender testing. We felt it was not in line with the SA constitution — there was no support system for the athletes after testing and the tests were also crude and couldn’t guarantee definitive results.
We approached Mthobi Tyamzashe and Steve Tshwete [both were on the organising committee and in government] and they agreed with us, but they said they could not change it because it was an All Africa Games policy. We then had to contact the All Africa Games organisation and they told us they could not change it because it was IOC policy. We went to the Gender Commission and we drafted a letter for them to send to the IOC, who withdrew gender testing for those games and also the Sydney Olympics in 2000. What is the latest on the TV rights issue in boxing? (BSA and promoters are arguing over who owns the rights) I wouldn’t want to say much because it is an issue that is within our courts. My wish is that it could be resolved so we can move forward because it is killing boxing — the SABC is not televising boxing because of it, and that is affecting the pockets of boxers. Will Boxing SA finally get an unqualified audit this year? We did. The auditor-general’s office has already indicated this to us. This cloud of broadcasting has overshadowed the progress we have made behind the scenes . . . we have strengthened our office. We now want to be on the same page as our licensees. What sports did you do? I was a runner. I played the old English basketball, which later became netball. I played softball and tennis. I coached in most codes and officiated. I was an international tennis umpire in the mid-1990s. I think umpiring helped me with leadership skills and decisionmaking. In what way? You have to make instant decisions. I remember at Groenkloof umpiring a match between players from Croatia and Serbia. I was unaware that those countries had been at war.
The one player swore at the other in his mother tongue and the other swore back in English. I called him to order and he told me: ‘No, you can’t call me to order and not him.’
Their parents and supporters in the stand behind me started getting involved. I then told them: ‘We are playing tennis here and we don’t communicate in any language except English — now go tell your people to behave or I’m calling this match off.’ They spoke to their people and the match continued.
I’ve learned I need to know more history and current affairs — and that you don’t quit when the going gets tough. You were young when you became an administrator — did you not want to play? I regret in a way that I never had the opportunity to play for my country. In 1995, when the SA netball team won silver at the world championships, all those girls were of my age, but I was an executive member of Netball SA.
I had to stop playing and do administration because we didn’t have enough female administrators in netball.
We had to take netball away from men running netball.