Major Leap Forward: Ministry Aims to Modify Boxing...

Major Leap Forward: Ministry Aims to Modify Boxing and Wrestling Control Act

Kirsty Coventry to address the nation on the possibility of resumption of sports in Zimbabwe - — **Minister Coventry**

Gilbert Munetsi

The Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture Ministry is accelerating strides to have the Boxing and Wrestling Control Act amended as a way to improve development and promotion of the boxing and wrestling sporting codes, it has been revealed.

Minister Kirsty Coventry, in her keynote address to mark the opening of a three-day strategic planning workshop in Harare, confirmed her Ministry appreciates the challenges faced by boxing of as a result of the legislature – the Boxing and Wrestling Control Act Chapter 52.0 - originally enacted in the 1960s.

The Zimbabwe National Boxing and Wrestling Control Board management and staff are attending the strategic gathering at a Harare hotel that is being facilitated by senior staff from the Public Service Commission.

One of the main objects of the workshop is to align the board’s strategy with that of the Ministry of Sport, with an aim to realize the outputs of the National Development Strategy 1.

In a speech read on her behalf by Acting Permanent Secretary, Dr Biggie Samwanda, Dr Coventry said:

“As a Ministry we are solidly behind efforts to develop sport in this country. I am happy to report that efforts to have the amendment of the Boxing and Wrestling Control Act are now being pushed forward through the Sport and Recreation Department working with the Legal Department of the Ministry.

“Once the Act has been promulgated, it is our expectation that some of the challenges that you are currently facing as a Board, such as the development and promotion of boxing and wrestling, will be ameliorated,” the Minister said.

An itinerary made available showed the workshop has been convened to review the ZNBWCB plan document for 2023-25, develop annual plans and develop the Chief Executive Officer’s and board chairperson’s respective performance contracts.

Among the challenges currently faced by the sport of boxing domestically is the recognition of female boxers in the Act, as well as the adoption of grassroots development programmes by professional boxing, which currently is the mandate of the Sports and Recreation Commission.

Minister Coventry reminded the house that as they meet to craft the way forward, they ought to appreciate they have a rich legacy that needs to be preserved, as Zimbabwe has enjoyed some high level of success in wrestling and boxing.

Past achievements by the likes of Max ‘Moondog’ Kutsanzira and Mike ‘Big Mike’ Tshuma, as well as those by Langton ‘Schoolboy’ Tinago and Proud ‘Kilimanjaro’ Chinembiri should motivate you to realize that as a nation we have talent in wrestling and boxing that needs to be harnessed and supported.

“It is in this light that as you prepare your Strategic Plan for the two years ahead of the NDS-1 wrap up, I urge you to consider all the aspects that can bring back the glory in our wrestling and boxing as a country,” she said.

She urged the board to entice the business sector to come on board and promote wrestling and boxing into viable sport investments hub sector which will be able to drive the economy alongside other sectors as dictated by the blueprint of Vision 2030: “Towards an Upper Middle-Income Economy”.

“Boxing and Wrestling are not only forms of employment to the young people, but are also critical in attaining social cohesion and unity. This underscores the reason why as a Ministry we are emphasizing more on using sport to fight drug and substance abuse which has become a scourge on our development, as such we would like to see more effort towards the use of wrestling and boxing in social development,” Dr Coventry added.