A ground-breaking partnership was announced between gsport and a federation that is determined to make inroads in advancing women’s sport, Boxing South Africa, on the final day of Public Nominations ahead of the upcoming 2024 Momentum gsport Awards.
The years-long collaboration will focus on elevating the visibility of women in boxing and driving greater interest in the sport through content creation, masterclasses, event partnerships, and mentorship programs
The Partnership aims to Revitalise Women’s Boxing at All Levels
Earlier this year, in an effort to clean up an otherwise tainted reputation due to the previous board, former Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture initiated the election of a new board that saw the likes of highly acclaimed Team SA psychologist Dr Koketjo Tsebe, seasoned broadcaster Romy Titus as well as accomplished Attorney Nande Mheshe come in to steer the sport to greener pastures.
With those changes Ms Mheshe, was then announced as the Chairlady of Boxing SA’s Women In Boxing Committee, a force in the legal fraternity that is determined to improve the state of Women’s Boxing in South Africa.
Mheshe is an Admitted Attorney, Conveyancer and Notary Public of the High Court of South Africa.
She has a firm passion for corporate governance, is serving on the following Corporate Boards namely: Municipal Planning Tribunal for Ndlambe Local Municipality, Great Kei Municipality’s Appeals Tribunal, Cacadu Municipality Development Agency and on the Nkosinathi Foundation for the Blind and Partially Sighted.
Federation Management and Critical Management Positions
She’s fairly new in the sporting world but she’s ready to set the world of boxing ablaze. “I strongly feel that my inclusive leadership approach will create an environment that propels women within the sport to elevate to greater heights and own their rightful place within the sporting code and be afforded equal rights and opportunities as their male counter-parts.”
A crucial part of running a federation and propelling it forward includes educating athletes about legal aspects that may be sometimes neglected due to lack of education and insight. And to be honest we all tend to struggle with the “fine print”.
The appointment of Mheshe will assist women in boxing in that regard: “My role on the committee is that of leadership and strategic support. I will also provide legal advice in respect of contracts, law matters and the interpretation of legislative provisions as and when required. The legal advice will assist the boxers to be aware of the basic essentials of a contract before entering into any contractual agreements.”
According to her, the new board has set things moving to grow the sport by making some key moves including collaborating with gsport.
“We have had to hit the ground running and bring stability within the organisation, by first ensuring that critical Management positions are filled (CEO, CFO and Board Secretary) we are close to finalising all the said positions. Our intention is to ensure that we promote strong stakeholder relations with all licensees in the boxing community. We had our first successful engagement session in July.
Under the Women in Boxing banner: “BSA has officially endorsed a partnership between Women in Boxing and South Africa’s leading women’s sport initiative, gsport, as it celebrates its eighteenth year of championing women’s sport and enhancing corporate support for female athletes.”
“We also planning to launch season 2 of the Women in Boxing Series in Lady Smith on the 30th of August and have a Women in Boxing Workshop on the 31st of August 2024. The series will be rolled out in all provinces with only women taking part, with the intention of marketing and elevating women in boxing. Our workshops will take a holistic approach addressing financial, physical, emotional and mental health matters.”
Nande Mheshe, Chairlady of Boxing SA’s Women In Boxing Committee
When speaking with female boxers, they always mention a bevy of challenges they face in the sport, including not having adequate fights to keep elevating and growing as athletes. Mheshe highlights further challenges they encounter.
- Female boxers paid less than male boxers, fighting same number of bouts
- No marketing support provided to our female champs
- No up-skilling of our female boxers
- Sexual harassment issues
- Undignified compensation for ring officials
- Sponsorship or lack thereof is also another issue that needs critical attention.
“Currently there are no sponsors in place, our main intention is to enhance our visibility by ensuring that we are in the public’s eye, by means of electronic and print media, in a way that is attractive and appealing to sponsors. We have recently finalised our Sponsorship Pitch Deck Presentation which we will use to secure corporate support,” according to Mheshe.
Alongside gsport women’s boxing will enjoy gets greater prominence and recognition.
Mheshe agrees: “This will definitely enhance our visibility within the media space. It will also promote our public profile, attracting corporate support for our female athletes. This year-long collaboration will focus on elevating the visibility of women in boxing and driving greater interest in the sport through content creation, masterclasses, event partnerships, and mentorship programs. The partnership also aims to revitalise women’s boxing at all levels. We are very excited to be associated with an entity that has been championing women sport for the past 18 years, we could not have asked for a better partnership.”
“My vision is to create a safe space for women in boxing, one that enables our women to thrive and elevate to administrative and leadership positions within the sport and to be elevated to compete globally. We also plan to request our Minister to assist us in ensuring that boxing is introduced back in schools to increase the number of female boxers. We also aim to foster good relations between amateur and professional boxing by involving SANABO in all our tournaments and workshops.”
The vision is clear and Mheshe is the perfect lady to execute a clearly thought out plan. The likes of Smangele “Smash” Hadebe will benefit from a unity of a adequately supervised and competently guided federation as well as a well-oiled gsport machine that has been at the forefront of promoting and advancing women’s sport.
What lies ahead is a lot of work for Mheshe and her committee is to tick the following boxes:
- Ensure equal pay for female boxers
- Conduct roadshows to increase awareness and promotion of the sport, more especially in rural areas.
- Maintain strong stakeholder relations through transparent engagements
- Allow for an inclusive environment which allows for our female stakeholders to have a voice and take centre stage.
- Ensure that all tournaments feature female boxers as a standard requirement, after consultation with the relevant stakeholders
- Secure corporate sponsors for funding and support.
Photo Caption: During her tenure, Boxing South Africa Chairlady Nande Mheshe aims for the Women in Boxing Committee to balance the equilibrium and secure equal pay for female boxers and grow the visibility of the sport to attract sponsors. All Photos: Supplied
(+1 rating, 1 votes, rated)
Loading...
