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Mr Mukandangalwo Wilbert Madzivhandila.

Boxing promoter leads the people of Tshitavhadulu

 

Mr Mukandangalwo Wilbert Madzivhandila is one of the local boxing legends whose name will not be easily forgotten.

At the age of 91, Madzivhandila still remembers the kind of life he lived when he was a young boy at Tshakhuma Primary School in the mid-forties. He said that his dream was to become a successful boxer and businessman.

After passing Grade 9 (then Form 2) in 1951, Madzivhandila worked as a temporary teacher for a year before registering for a bricklaying course with the Vlakfontein Industrial School in Pretoria. That was where he met Dr Dzhivhuwo, who trained him as a boxer and later assisted him to join the Transvaal Boxing Union.

Upon completing his studies at the Vlakfontein Industrial School, Dr Dzhivhuwo encouraged him to go back home and train more young boys as boxers. He worked as a building contractor for several years before kissing the industry goodbye in the early seventies to focus on other businesses. According to him, he was the first black person to own a fuel station in the Venda homeland.

With the help of the late Mr Bethuel Manyama, Madzivhandila established the Venda Boxing Association in 1982. The association soon became a home for champions after producing high-profile boxers such as Philip Ndou, Lovemore Ndou and Cassius Baloyi.

Madzivhandila was later tempted to apply for a boxing promotion license. He revealed that one of his memorable achievements was his accreditation as the first boxing promoter in Venda. He revealed that the first professional boxing tournament he staged after qualifying as a promoter was staged at the Thohoyandou Stadium. The tournament was followed by numerous ones that were staged at the University of Venda, the Thohoyandou Town Hall, and the Thohoyandou Indoor Sports Centre.

He stated that it would be difficult for him to forget the international bout between Peter Malinga and Alberto Arano from the USA that was staged at the University of Venda as this was his first tournament to be televised live.

As a prince from the Tshakhuma royal family, Madzivhandila was installed as chief (Vhamusanda) for the Tshitavhadulu area in Tshakhuma way back in 2002.

Asked what he was busy with these days, Madzivhandila stated that his focus was on his activities as a traditional leader and businessman. He said that he stopped renewing his boxing promotion license after his installation as chief. He stressed the fact that the well-being of his subjects came first, which is why he decided not to renew his boxing promotion license after accepting the call to lead the people of Tshitavhadulu village.   

 

 

Date:28 June 2020

By: Frank Mavhungu

Frank is a Human Resources Manager at the Department of Public Works in Limpopo. He is the longest serving correspondent of the Mirror, having joined us at the end of 1990.  He mainly writes sports reports and resides at Tsianda Village. In 2004, Frank won the National Castle League Award, an award for the best reporter in the SAB league in South Africa.

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