SA National Boxing Organization (SANABO) 2020/21 Annual Report

Meeting report

Chairperson opening remarks
The Chairperson welcomed the Department of Sports, Arts, and Culture and the executive board of the South African National Boxing Organization. She noted that Basketball SA did not send its documentation on time, instead they sent it this morning. This was an inconvenience because it meant the Portfolio Committee had inadequate time to read it.

This spurred varying reactions. For instance, Mr T Mhlongo (DA) was concerned that this behaviour revealed an undermining attitude towards the Portfolio Committee. He requested feedback from Basketball SA to explain themselves. This suggestion was supported by the Committee.

South African National Boxing Organization (SANABO) 2020/21 Annual Report
Mr Liwa Njokweni Mlokoti, SANABO Secretary General , presented.

The presentation contained the executive members of SANABO and the majority of them were part of last year’s newly elected team. The organizational structure of SANABO and it was constituted by two streams: The Boxing Stream and The Olympic Stream. The Boxing Stream contained the International Boxing Association (AIBA) and the African Boxing Confederation (AFBC). The Olympic stream entailed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) , Association of National Olympic Committees in Africa (ANOCA), and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC).

The background and pitfalls of the organization were noted and SANABO conceded it has indeed been engulfed in unprecedented crises which have negatively impacted it at both provincial and national level. This background information was intended to provide context for the difficulties that the new executive finds itself in. To attain its vision and goals which were described in slide 4, these obstacles need to be dealt with first.

The development programmes which SANABO is responsible for presented as well as the different boxing categories sorted according to age group.

Discussion
Mr B Madlingozi (EFF) raised a concern that the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture "has no minister". He justified his assertion by saying that this year, Minister Nathi Mthethwa has been out of action for approximately 94% of the meetings held by the Portfolio Committee. The Minister’s actions are being copied by other entities because they are also not taking the Portfolio Committee seriously. This matter should be acted upon urgently. He was referring particularly to Basketball SA (BSA) and Cricket South Africa (CSA).

His first question was whether South African boxing is on a growth trajectory? If that is the case, what makes SANABO convinced that boxing is growing? He asked SANABO to provide tangible facts to justify its conviction.

Is boxing generating revenues to benefit the youth in the townships? If so, then what measures have been put in place to sustain this. However, if no revenues are generated for township youth, then what are the challenges hampering this endeavour? Moreover, what has been done to mitigate these challenges? To ensure a bright future for young boxers, is there a way of ensuring that they are: managed properly, making adequate money, and well protected?

He acknowledged that the SANABO presentation revealed a great long-term vision, plans and goals. Nonetheless, what pragmatic measures are in place right now to realize these ideals?

Boxing is indisputably a combat sport, hence it is banned in schools. However, what plans have been developed to protect boys and girls boxing at schools?

Mr A Zondi (ANC) welcomed the presentation by SANABO. He asked how Boxing South Africa (BSA) is assisting SANABO in increasing the participation of woman in the sport. This stemmed from his concern about the low number of woman participating in boxing as the participation level is low compared to third world countries. To compensate this deficiency, he encouraged an increase in their participation in the sport. He also recommended that SANABO target schools as a key place for recruitment and for their turnaround strategy, rather than the streets.

Mr D Joseph (DA) welcomed the report and asked about the financial status of SANABO. He commended it for having a clean audit for 2019/20 as part of its achievements. He asked about SANABO’s bank account and if it has been rectified.

Now that SANABO reports that it is in good standing with the Department, what is the current funding plan from the Department, SASCOC and AIBA?

What support and assistance does the Department and South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) give to SANABO in obtaining and sustaining documents, reports and assets? What is the Department doing to recover the documents, reports and assets of the previous executive members who resigned?

Ms V Van Dyk (DA) experienced network problems, consequently her audibility was hampered.

Mr T Mhlongo (DA) asked if the relationship between SANABO and BSA is stable.

He also asked why amateur boxing is underfunded and what plans are in place to attract more sponsors and generate more funding?

He asked why the funding transfer process for SANABO is not happening in time and why the Portfolio Committee was not informed about this funding process.

To the new leadership, he asked what plans are in place to revitalize boxing because the prestige of the sport has declined. It is no longer one of the top five sports in the country as was the case several years ago.

He requested a clear picture of SANABO finances.

Ms V Malomane (ANC) inquired about the key programmes that the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture has projected. This included the National Youth and Elite Championship that was supposed to take place form the 5 – 9 October, and the coaching costs. She wanted to know if these have been achieved. She further asked about the coaching costs.

The next issue she asked about was about the development of woman in boxing. This question stemmed from the low number (zero) of woman in the Northern Cape province. She asked if there are any pragmatic plans in place at the moment because this issue was raised on the previous meeting.

With regards to the low number of coaches, referees, and judges in certain provinces, what is being done to ameliorate these situations?

How far is the issue of Memorandum of Understanding with BSA, and what developments have been achieved thus far?

She wanted to find out why are some entities not sufficiently communicating with the Portfolio Committee of Sports, Arts and Culture, and why do some entities deliver their work in time whilst others don’t?

Ms R Adams (ANC) was concerned that the impact of poor governance had led to the closing down of the SANABO bank account. As a consequence of their finances, SANABO had been declared by International Boxing Association (AIBA) as a member that is not in good standing.

If deserted by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) as a result of this, how and with whom will SANABO collaborate for funds? Has SANABO complied with the AIBA constitution in order to register as an affiliate under the development programmes?

Does SANABO have enough funds to run all the programmes it mentioned, especially programmes listed under projects and programmes for 2021?

According to the statistics, Northern Cape has 13 clubs with 160 male participants and no females. What support plan is there for provinces that have a disproportionate number of female participating in boxing?

Her last question was about the turnaround strategy production of a four-year strategic plan that will provide a clear pathway for boxing. She asked how will SANABO do this as it mentioned its challenges of inadequate funding for administration and programmes and no sponsorship.         

The Chairperson referred to the South African Boxing Federation (SABOF) and said it is an emerging entity that claims to be parallel with SANABO – she wanted full clarification on this.

Given the emerging challenges at hand for SANABO, she asked how the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will ameliorate these challenges.

She asked for its current funding status. SANABO complains about the lack of funding, however, one cannot get funding without accounting compliance – something which SANABO has been lacking. She asked what processes are in place to ensure stability will be achieved and sustained.

The Chair asserted that there are 27 entities and amongst these entities, there are some which do not respect the Department - as alluded to by Ms Malomane. She hoped that this is not the case with SANABO because the Portfolio Committee is trying by all means to assist and monitor their programmes – through the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture. She recommended that as a sign of respect the Committee's input, efforts and commitment must be reciprocated. Doing otherwise, is not merely a disrespect to the Committee, but to parliamentary oversight because “as the Committee, we are Parliament”.  

Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) response
Ms Sumayya Khan, DSAC Acting Director General, experienced network problems which hindered her from responding.

Mr Simphiwe Mncube, DSAC Chief Director, took over. On the funding question, in previous years, the Department followed a particular model, because it used historical information to allocate funding through the sports federations. The federations were broken down into different categories, and the federations which received the most money were those that are part of the school programme. However, with Covid, this affected federations across the board and it therefore became necessary for DSAC to have a decent look into what the other federations were saying, particularly those failing to generate income from various sources.

The Department had to review its approach and in the last financial year, the federations had to submit a proposal and business plan which indicated their greatest challenges. Their submissions were evaluated and this year an allocation letter has be issued following the same approach. It is unfortunate that out of more than 65 federations, only about 24 have submitted. These submissions have been assessed and some federations have received their correspondence letters to sign the service level agreements. As a result, their payments are being processed but DSAC does experience delays, particularly in the submission of compliance documents.

SANABO has steadily improved its submissions, and it submitted its business plan to the Department today. The plan will be evaluated on the basis of the evaluation process. Thereafter, the Department will then be able to indicate and transfer its requested funding.

Mr Mncube said the difficulty with this kind of a situation is that if you have R115 million and only 24 federations submit out of 65, it becomes difficult to cut the cake because you may allocate more funds to the those that have submitted. The likely consequence of this is over commitment and one may find that there are insufficient funds for the rest of the federations that have not submitted.

Despite not being able to wait for those that have not submitted, the Department tried to assist particularly those that have expressed an urgent need to get the funding. Moreover, in the past, DSAC used to independently do the evaluation process, but they have now written to SASCOC for assistance in the evaluation of the federation submissions. This is to enable fairer objective approach when aiding the federations.

On the lack of boxing in schools and the Department’s plans to assist in this area, DSAC has experienced continual difficulties with this because the policy of the Department of Basic Education (DBE) prohibits any form of combat sport in schools. Nonetheless, there are continual engagements with DBE to try and demonstrate that as much as boxing may be seen as a violent sport, it provides a very good contribution towards the wellbeing of youngsters especially in terms of discipline. An alternative junior programme has been initiated in collaboration with SANABO, and part of the programme is to target and promote juniors from outside the school grounds.

The Department could not transfer funds to SANABO for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 financial years. This was primarily because the previous executive failed to meet the compliance requirements of section 38 (1)(j) of the Public Finance Management Act. However, with the SANABO interim committee working closely with DSAC last year, the Department was able to transfer R1.2 million in funding. SANABO has also been able to submit the audited financial statements, which is a good indication that the new executive is indeed doing its best to ensure appropriate accounting.

On the emerging body, SABOF, Mr Mncube confirmed on behalf of the Department that this body is not and will never be recognized by the department at all. He emphasized the importance of working with SANABO and Boxing SA and why it is essential that SABOF does not continue to exist due to the confusion and concerns it is creating within the boxing fraternity. He confirmed that SABOF has no legal, formal or contractual status with the department.

On the assets, the Department has requested its legal services to draft a formal communique to the former executive members who resigned for the purpose of returning assets that belong to SANABO back to SANABO. He was aware that SASCOC has also engaged with the former executive members to ensure that whatever documents and access they had in their possession, is returned to the current executive.

On the relationship between Boxing South Africa and SANABO, the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture has been working very closely with the two institutions. There are still outstanding issues in terms of the formalisation of the MOU, he admitted. However, there is work in progress, to the extent that there was a recent workshop convened by BSA which SANABO had to be a part of. This was done for the purpose of beginning to work out practical modalities of cooperating, particularly in the promotion of open boxing.

Over and above that, the Department also engaged BSA to ensure that they assist SANABO particularly in terms of their administrative base. A practical example that the two entities have a good working relationship is that SANABO currently has an administrative base at the offices of BSA. In turn, SANABO is assisted in stabilizing its administrative capacity.

SANABO response
Mr Siya Mkhwalo, SANABO president, apologized for the poor network connection earlier on. He started with the question raised by Mr Madlingozi which dealt with the growth of SANABO. As the new executive, they occupied the reins from early last year, and immediately after their election, they were confronted and stifled by the COVID-19 outbreak as well as the disaster management regulations which were put into effect. Thus in response to the question about whether SANABO is growing, the new executive is currently managing what is at their disposal, but he assured a growth trajectory in the near future. The realization of this assurance, however, relies on the non-existence of a fourth wave or any other wave for that matter.

On the management of boxers, he referred to slide 23 which dealt with medium- and long-term plans. The slide speaks about SANABO’s protection plans because the new executive has identified gaps in their analysis. This includes some of the reasons that motivate boxers to leave boxing, which is the inadequate welfare that SANABO has been able to provide them. As a federation for these players, those plans in slide 23 were put in place to address these challenges and also to enable the development and sustenance of the organization.  

On how SANABO is intending to generate money, he conceded that as the new executive committee they experienced difficulties in administering the federation because it has been like starting a new organization from scratch. This was due to the lack of organisational documents and assets to work with. SANABO has not approached any sponsors at the moment, because they are in the process of collecting the necessary organizational documents. For instance, they are in constant contact with the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to obtain essential certificates such as Public Benefit Organization (PBO) certificate and the Non-Profit Organization certificate. The essence of these documents is that they have to be in place when applying to a sponsor or funder, hence they are prioritizing them.

On the low number of women participating in Boxing, he conceded that it was true and that the statistics presented by the Secretary General were a true reflection of what was happening, especially in the Northern Cape. To ameliorate this deficiency, the executives and a number of officials plan to host road shows as they had discovered inherent and embedded challenges within certain provinces. A resolution was also adopted, and it entailed visiting all provinces to uncover, discover and understand the underlying issues for the low female participation in boxing. He assured the Committee that change will be addressed and that in the next presentation to the Portfolio Committee, SANABO will bring different numbers. These numbers, he promised, will show growth, and will end up closing the gaps identified.

On the lack of boxing in schools, he said it is high time for an engagement between the Sports Portfolio Committee, DBE and DSAC. He suggested that this engagement should zoom into the regulatory framework that prevents boxing from being a part of schooling activities. According to him, amateur boxing/open boxing is a safe sport, because all the necessary rules and measures have been put in place. He validated this information by arguing that during his history of being an administrator in boxing, he cannot recall a single incident where a boxer has died in the ring – particularly from the amateur ranks. Therefore, there is a need to unlock the regulatory framework set up by the DBE and broaden the base.

Other prospering federations like swimming and athletics, are the result of the broad-based regulatory frameworks set up by the schools. He argued that one cannot start developing a child from the age of 16, but rather when they are at a much younger age. As a consequence of the prohibiting regulatory framework at schools, boxing is missing out on grooming children at an early age and SANABO will be blamed in future for not featuring in the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, and other major competitions.

He added to Mr Mncube’s response about the status of the bank account that it is currently active and healthy but not to the extent of receiving any funds. This is because SANABO is waiting for the Department to declare that the account is active and has been revived. The active healthy status of the bank account is futile because there is no money in it. He hopes the Department will urgently look at the submitted business plan so SANABO can host events in the second week of December 2021 which include the Cadet and Junior Championships.

He put on record the new emerging entity named SABOF. Although SASCOC says it is not going to recognize or support this entity, on the ground, SABOF is parading – it is hosting championships, continuing with busines as if everything is normal. SANABO’s hands are tied in addressing this matter but it has elevated this concern to the Department and SASCOC because SABOF’s endeavors are negatively impacting the developmental agenda of SANABO. This is because they provide coaches, officials, and players with wrong information. He urged the Chair that the emergence of such structures should not be allowed in South Africa because of the detrimental effect of making the country a banana republic.

Another challenge has been the handing over of assets from the previous executive committee. This has been a challenge and it still is. He suggested that if we are serious about our sport in the country then there needs to be mechanisms in place to prevent this from happening in future. People need to understand that we are managing people’s assets because “we are funded by the government and government is for the people, by the people”. The importance of this democratic principle is what makes SANABO to call people to account. SANABO has written three letters to the former executive, to which none of them have been responded. In addition, two members of the former executive (former president and SG) are occupying executive leadership positions in zone four. Even at that level they continue to make SANABO’s current executives lives difficult. He does not know why they are doing this but assumes it is because of the way the current executive is managing a difficult situation and big national assets.

SANABO has a very healthy relationship with BSA. Healthy in the sense that its office is actually located within the BSA offices. With reference to the Memorandum of Understanding, the document was handed to the Director of Operations, Ms Cindy Nkomo, last night and SANABO is looking at a date possibly before the end of this month to officially sign the memorandum. Thus the signing is certainly going to happen this year. The official signing of the pipeline will be known at SANABO’s next presentation to the Committee or through the media because the document is finalized, and it has also been approved by the international body, AIBA.

On funding plans, at the moment SANABO is still in the process of collecting the essential documents because it important to clean up our house and ensure there is order, before we approach the corporate sector or potential funder.

In terms of growth plans, SANABO’s immediate plan is to sustain what we have and use it as our point of departure. There are plans in place which speak to the growth of the organization, and the next presentation will certainly present different figures and this will signify the growth we are talking about.

He replied that all the programmes highlighted in that slide have been delivered, this includes the National Youth Intergrity Championship as well as the successful championship recently held in Cape Town. From this programme, SANABO was able to identify a team that will be attending the African Union Sport Council (AUSC) games held in December in Lesotho.

On the low number of women, there are currently seven active commissions reflecting the different provinces. The commissions responsible for the development of woman are: Woman Commission and Athletes Commission. These SANABO commissions were established for the purpose of anchoring what SANABO ought to achieve.

On Annual Reports for before 2019, the new executive does not have these reports because upon the resignation of the former executive – they only submitted the incomplete 2019 audited financial statements to SASCOC. The compliance Mr Mncube was referring to was through the hard work of the new executive committee because it had to ensure that all compliance documents were produced (including the outstanding financial statements). It was through this reason that we managed to receive R1.2 million.

On compliance with AIBA, based on what was presented in December 2020, SANABO was regarded as a member that is not in good standing. He assured the Committee that at the upcoming AIBA conference next month in South Africa, SANABO will be presented as a member in good standing because it is compliant with all the regulatory frameworks set up by AIBA

On funding, a potential funder that SANABO will be approaching before the end of the year is the National Lottery Commission. The reason for the delay is due to the absence of certain documents required for the application. They have now managed to secure all the required documents and are in preparation with the business plan which will be sent to National Lottery, most likely before the end of this month.

The Chairperson thanked the SANABO president for managing to come back given his poor network connection earlier on. She appreciated the insightful and informative responses by both the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture and SANABO. After hearing them and what they have to offer, the chair was happy and satisfied, but she said these promises will be monitored.

DSAC Director General response
Ms Sumayya Khan, DSAC Acting Director General, thanked the Chairperson for being allowed back in to respond because she experienced poor network connection earlier on. Mr Mncube had responded to most of the questions. She wanted to clarify the reference to “entity” as SANABO should not be confused with a public entity because it is a non-profit organization and one of the recognised national sports federations. Boxing SA is a public entity.  

She thought the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture and SANABO are moving to the point of winning with administration and getting governance in order. The Department together with SASCOC has given fair support to SANABO. Now it is just a matter of getting all the requirements in place so that payments will be processed just like all the other federations.

The Chairperson thanked Members for their contributions in the meeting. They have clarified the gaps between SANABO and the Department. Next time, all that is presented will be checked and evaluated before the meeting.

Further discussion
Mr T Mhlongo (DA) asked DSAC if it communicated with all the federations across South Africa prior to their submissions, because Mr Mncube’s explanation of ‘cutting the cake’ was a bit vague.

Ms Khan replied that DSAC has now finalized the allocations for all federations. It is now getting approval from the DG for each allocation. The closing date for sport federations to submit their plans was at the end of October. She was aware that the allocation letters were prepared which the DG still has to approve. Once these have been approved then the Department will finalize the Service Level Agreement (SLA) with each federation, thereafter the transfers will be done.

Mr Simphiwe Mncube, Chief Director in the Department of Sport and Recreation, added that once DSAC has received a signed allocation agreement, it takes an average of about a week and a half to process the payments of the federations that have submitted all required documents. However, for those that have not submitted, it means they still have to go through the process of being assessed as is the case with SANABO whose business bank still needs to be assessed, and this will be done next week Tuesday. There is a batch of eight more federations that have recently submitted. The closing date was communicated a while ago to all the federations, and they were given 14 days to submit. As indicated earlier, only 24 submissions have been assessed. It is indeed true that a communique went out to all the federations.

The Chairperson requested that the Department forward to the Portfolio Committee a list of all the sports federations which have not submitted. This is to make the Committee aware of and grant it assurance of the federations that have not submitted or delayed their submission despite a communique being sent out.

Mr T Mhlongo (DA) said the Department must acknowledge that there has been a delay. He agreed with the Chairperson's suggestion that the Department must be transparent and share with the Portfolio Committee, information about the delayed submissions and non-submissions of sport federations.

The Chairperson thanked the Department and the SANABO president and his colleagues.

Basketball SA Annual Report
The Chairperson said the Basketball SA presentation was received only at 7 am this morning and that is not how things are done in this Portfolio Committee, because it gives Members little time to engage with the material. Basketball SA should know that documents need to be sent and read prior to any Committee meeting in Parliament. In a previous meeting, Members raised concerns about not receiving the presentation in time. Prior to the recess, the Committee had refused to accommodate Basketball SA due to a similar problem like the one at hand.

Mr Victor Bergman, the new Basketball SA treasurer general, humbly apologized and explained that due to the BSA national elections held this past Saturday, BSA had only started getting its ducks in order and put things together after those elections. He is the new incumbent of the current position he holds, he was previously the Secretary General.

He noted from the Boxing presentation that there are submissions due to the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, but admitted that these are part of the things Basketball SA has not been able to do. He said the BSA elections were very much needed because it was part of its drive to get its house in order, hence BSA has been working with a steering committee which consisted of department officials as well as SASCOC. The former executive was not a complete team and there were other administrative issues that needed to be put in place before anything could be done. He apologized for the late submission once again.

The Chairperson asked Members to respond to the feedback provided by Basketball SA

Mr T Mhlongo (DA) thanked the Chairperson for alerting Basketball SA on how professional this Committee conducts its meetings, but he understood and was lenient to BSA because they are a new board. He wanted to find out if all their members are present, and if they were, then he was ready to proceed the meeting.

Ms Malomane (ANC) also understood that they are a new board, had no further concerns and if they arise, they will be sent to BSA via the secretary.

The Chairperson asked the Committee if it has a problem if Basketball SA presents next week when the Department is also present. In her view, the Committee does not hear a presentation if received on the morning of the meeting. The Committee must stick to these guards. As the chair she expects to be supported even if the BSA board is new.

Ms Malomane (ANC) agreed with the Chairperson for the sake of consistency. She suggested that the presentation be scheduled for next week. This will give the Committee adequate time to read the presentation in order to ask proper questions.

Mr T Mhlongo (DA) withdrew his proposal for Basketball SA to continue with their presentation and agreed with the Chairperson that they be rescheduled to next week.

Mr B Madlingozi (EFF) agreed with the decision as the Committee should be given enough time to engage with the Basketball SA documents. He asked if next week’s material will be the same.

The Chairperson acknowledged that due to its recent elections, the new Treasurer General and his team had inadequate time to prepare for the meeting. Thus its presentation would be moved to next week. She asked if the material presented to the Committee next week will be any different.

Mr V Bergman, Treasurer General of Basketball SA, admitted that the invite to this meeting was extended to the entire board. This was justified by the presence of the Secretary General, Vice President and other executive members who have recently joined.

The Chairperson said she would love the new Basketball SA executive members to be present next. She thanked them for their attendance despite the short amount of time it had to prepare.

Minutes of 7 September 2021 were adopted.

The meeting adjourned.