Escalating litigation costs central to the disbandment of the Boxing SA board

The case, brought forward by the National Professional Boxing Promoters Association (NPBPA), has left boxing in the country in a state of paralysis.

The ruling against McKenzie’s predecessor, Zizi Kodwa (The Ministry), BSA, and Acting CEO Mandla Ntlanganiso, has huge repercussions for the sport of boxing in the country.

According to the ruling, Ntlanganiso will return to suspension, and it remains unclear what will happen to the decisions taken by Ntlanganiso from December until now, including the sanctioning of fights and letters sent to international world boxing sanctioning bodies clearing fighters, some of whom went on to be world champions.

The escalating litigation costs were one of the key questions during the Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts, and Culture’s meeting, which the BSA board, which has since been disbanded, faced during the grilling in parliament.

READ: Parliamentary Committee calls for arrests on missing BSA funds

Committee member Hazel Mbele of Umkhonto Wesizwe Party asked if BSA had budgeted for these litigations, as they were starting to drain the coffers of the regulator.

"Because I'm talking about the litigations as far as I'm concerned, there's something that you did not say acting CEO. The COO was suspended, am I right? You did not include it in your report because we've got questions about why he was suspended in the first place, what were the reasons?” Mbele asked.

“And then, why we are asking these questions? because the suspension was uplifted. It tells you a lot that means the suspension was not legal, now do you see what is happening, that means the board has invited the litigation, unnecessarily and how much money was spent on that case?

“Because obviously you can't suspend somebody and at the same time, there's nothing that you spend unless maybe it didn't go to court or it didn't go anywhere. At the same time, it's irregular because you suspend a very important person, the COO, without any reason.

“Now the performance of the department is going to be affected obviously and then unlifted and then was brought back, so we need to find that missing point, what were the reasons of the suspensions, and then what were the reasons of uplifting that suspension,” Mbele continued to pose the questions to the board and department.

Ntlanganiso had been suspended by the previous board of Luthando Jack, whose term expired in December 2023, and was reinstated by the board that was appointed by Kodwa also at the same time but only spent a day in office before they were successfully interdicted by NPBPA.

The promoters had argued that they had not been properly consulted by Kodwa as per the constitution of BSA prior to the appointment of the board.

Kodwa later appointed Ntlanganiso as the BSA Accounting Authority in January 2024, when the sport was without a board to account to.

In the department’s statement, McKenzie revealed that he had initially contemplated appealing this ruling, but the costs swayed him in another direction.

“The Minister had initially indicated he would oppose the matter in court. It was, however, noted the case is costing the department excessive amounts of money and it is undesirable to proceed with spending money on ongoing litigation,” read the statement from the department this morning.

SABC Sport also understands that McKenzie made this decision after meeting the BSA board last night. It’s alleged that he blamed them for the mess the sport is in despite having only assumed office in May 2024.

The Portfolio Committee's queries yesterday were based on the misapplication of funds between 2020 and the last fiscal year (2023/2024).

McKenzie has promised to return to parliament within 21 days with an action plan for resolving the boxing issues, including the names of people who will have to account for this situation and possibly be arrested.