ABOUT two years ago, I wrote a piece titled “State Must Release Boxing Equipment To ZABF” published in this column on June 15, 2013.
The boxing equipment had been bought by the Government when Zambia hosted the Zone Six Under-20 Games in December 2012.  According to a media report, since the Games ended about six months later, the equipment was stuck at the ministry of youth and sport. The equipment has since been released to the boxing body.
Sports Council of Zambia acting general secretary then Man Muchimba was quoted as saying Government had not released the equipment to the council because an audit was to be conducted on the purchase.
Muchimba wondered why the Zambia Amateur Boxing Federation (ZABF), since renamed Zambia Boxing Federation (ZBF) was accusing the council of holding on to the equipment which the federation needed more than the ministry.
ZBF president Thomas Chileshe even attributed the withholding of the equipment to the federation’s non-remittance of K3,000 balance on that year’s affiliation fees on the statutory K5,000 annual fee.
I wondered then at what point the audit regarding purchase of the equipment was supposed to be conducted. I said I would have thought the audit in question should have been done before or near procurement stage.
I said then that I was aware that for accountability purposes, a post-audit could be conducted on equipment like the boxing kit, but the troubling question was just how long the audit was supposed to take. “Does it (audit) have a time frame or it’s something haphazard which can go on and on without end?” I asked then.
These questions were important because I felt the audit should have been completed earlier and the equipment handed over to ZABF who need it more than the ministry of Youth and Sport. This background is relevant to this week’s topic; the latest news that the government has for the first time since independence in 1964 bought a modern boxing ring for Southern Province.
According to THE POST May 8 edition, Chileshe confirmed in an interview that the new ring had since been transported to Livingstone and would be launched during the national tourism boxing tournament to be held on May 30.
“It’s the first time since independence that Southern Province has seen a boxing ring of its own, so we are grateful to government. It will go a long way in promoting the sport in that part of the country,” Chileshe said.
In journalism, students are taught that when a dog bites a man, it’s not news, but when a man bites a dog, it’s news. When I saw this story, I truly thought it made news considering the period (51 years) Zambia has been independent.
A flood of questions crowded my mind about this welcome, but delayed development. Among them; if it can take 50 years for Government to secure a ring for one province, how many years will it take to buy for all the 10 provinces, assuming such plans are on paper?
Is there anything the state can do to catch up on the lost time in terms of developing the sport in other provinces as well? For instance, buying a ring for each province per year? Surely, the cost of a boxing ring cannot be equated to the price of one Toyota Prado and there are many such vehicles in our ministries and quasi-government institutions which are budgeted for each year, I believe?
The Bible says we should be grateful even for the small mercies others show us and, against this spirit, I’d say although the state’s gesture of buying one ring for Southern Province in 51 years is a welcome development, one hopes to see a sense of urgency in doing something for the other provinces as well.
I know amateur boxing is active only along the line of rail, but who knows what could happen if, say, the people of Kaputa in Luapula heard a rumour their Government was planning to buy them a boxing ring to promote the sport there?
Comments: mwale.simon@yahoo.co.uk 0966755574/0953744074