Ekandjo condemns boxers’ non-payment

TIM Ekandjo of MTC has condemned last weekend’s boxing fiasco, when boxers of a Kinda Promotions event were not paid, saying that such a situation would never occur with their boxers from the MTC Nestor Sunshine Boxing Academy’s stable.

Promoter Kinda Nangolo earlier this week revealed that the Namibian Professional Boxing and Wrestling Control Board had not yet paid his boxers who were involved in a boxing tournament last weekend.

“I can confirm that my boxers have not been paid yet, because the control board used the money that was transferred to their account by Kinda Promotions, and as a result, the boxers must suffer. As things stand, none of the boxers have been paid, which is a breach of contract between me and my boxers,” Nangolo said.

“The control board requires all promoters to hand over all boxers’ purses to them so that they can pay boxers directly. Now, they eat the money, and the boxers are left unpaid,” Nangolo added.

At a press conference on Wednesday to promote the MTC Nestor Sunshine Boxing Academy’s Independence Boxing Bonanza on 1 April, Ekandjo said they were concerned about the situation.

“We are concerned about the fact that the boxers have not been paid.

The rule is that you have to give the sanction fees to the control board and that is fine, but we become concerned when the control board does not pay the boxers,” he said, adding, “how can you give money to the control board if they eat the money.”

Ekandjo said this would not happen to their boxers.

“There’s no way our boxers won’t get paid – that will never happen on our watch. We will make sure that we protect our boxers, because in all the years of the Academy we have never heard that the boxers were not paid,” he said.

“If the control board wants to be unreasonable they might decide not to sanction our event and then we will have a problem, but we will do our best to avoid that,” he added.

Ekandjo, however, questioned whether the boxers’ money should first go to the Boxing Control Board.

“If Floyd Mayweather gets US$10 million for a fight it goes directly into his account and not that of the Nevada State Commission, so why shouldn’t we do the same. What happened last weekend was totally unacceptable and it should not happen again,” he said.

Nampa, meanwhile, reported that the control board had promised to settle the boxers’ fees soon.

Board member, Philip Mwandingi told Nampa on Tuesday that the mother-body was waiting for their monthly grant from the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service.

Mwandingi said they had not received their monthly grant for the past two months, which led to the current inconveniences being experienced.

“We are currently expecting our line ministry through the Namibia Sports Commission to transfer us N$250 000 and we will then write a cheque to Kinda so he can settle those boxers’ fees,” he said, adding that he had no idea when they will be paid.

On Monday, Nangolo availed a statement to Nampa saying he already paid the control board last year for the boxers’ fees to be settled right after the fight.

“The control board on various occasions failed to sanction my fight despite the fact that I paid them the required N$101 500 in cash,” he said.

Nangolo said with this money, the control board was supposed to deduct their administrative fees as well as pay the boxers’ participation fees right after the fight.

He said his boxers had not been paid yet, because the control board used the money that was transferred into their account.

Mwandingi, meanwhile, told Nampa that due to the ministry not having paid them yet, the money transferred by Kinda was used to fund debit orders for rent and other administrative matters, which led to the current situation.

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