Chronicle Editor
Gilbert Munetsi
AT age 40, Zimbabwe’s first female professional boxer Monalisa Sibanda, nicknamed “Queen of the Jungle” — testifies that she has lived a life hard enough to earn her that moniker.
The jungle in her much younger life, she reminisces, was an abusive stepfather who would subject her mother to a punching bag.
“He would come home drunk on a nightly basis, beat our mother up terribly and because we were young, all we could do was scream for help that sometimes took ages to come.”
As a result of the physical abuse, Sibanda was robbed of matrimonial care, a development she attributes to her decision to turn to boxing so she could avenge her mother’s death.
“That’s what drove me to want to be a boxer, all in the hope that when I became experienced in the art of fighting, I would seek revenge for my mother by beating up her abuser.
“However, fate had other plans and that never happened. But I still went on to take boxing anyway and here I am, making a little living out of it though I feel things could have been a lot better,” she says.
Her second jungle was her own marriage.
It was cut short after her best friend snatched her husband of four children, and she had to fend for them as a single mother.
And to be the pioneer female fighter in a country that has produced a number of continental and world champions of the opposite sex, Sibanda has had to survive in the midst of yet another jungle in the form of a discriminatory piece of law that governs the sport.
Officially, Zimbabwe does not recognise athletes of the female gender.
The Boxing and Wrestling Control Act, Chapter 25:02, is a legislative instrument that was crafted way back in 1956.
A number of amendments to it were effected in 1959, 1962, 1964, 1972 and in 2001.
And yet in all these instances it has never given consideration for female boxers to be recognised as professional athletes.
According to Section 8(c) (Ii) of the Act, the Zimbabwe National Boxing and Wrestling Control Board (ZNBWCB) is mandated to register and certify boxers, “provided that it shall not register any person as a boxer or wrestler who is not of the male sex.’’
Stakeholders in the fraternity are in a dilemma with only baby strides having so far been made to review the Act.
What has been achieved to date was just a reprieve at ministerial level to allow the participation of female boxers at professional level, albeit, in the absence of a binding legal instrument.
The fact that Sibanda and her contemporaries have not disappointed shows the country has vast talent to claim sporting glory in this area.
Sibanda herself is a current holder of the Women International Boxing Association inter-continental belt in the middleweight division and more recently, Kudakwashe “Take Money” Chiwandire, also made history by becoming Zimbabwe’s first female world champion.
Chiwandire won and held onto the World Boxing Council interim world title for a year before losing it to a Mexican opponent.
But history had been penned.
Female boxers in the country, who have also done well inside the domestic and foreign rings include Zvikomborero Danzwa, Revai Madondo, Netsai Bondai, Sehli Nhliziyo, Monica Mkandla, Chiedza Homakoma and Talent Nyagura, among others.
Boxing authorities are cognisant of the segregatory effects, the Act has had on the girl child, particularly in the face of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) which speaks to equal empowerment between persons of both sexes.
The Constitution of Zimbabwe also provides for the need for gender equality and even goes a step further in the reservation of electoral positions for females.
Across the Zambezi in Zambia, a lot of success has been scored in the area of female boxers’ participation.
Five-time world Zambian champion Esther Phiri boasts of several properties in real estate and has endorsements with a number of some financial institutions and corporates in that country.
Ironically, Phiri niched her career by having her two first fights against Sibanda, lost one to her and won the other.
Catherine Phiri, another idolised pugilist from Zimbabwe’s northern neighbours has been given a job in the Air Force of
Zambia, where she started off at the decent rank of lieutenant, thanks to her boxing exploits.
Lolita Muzeya, yet another Zambian, who turned professional just six years ago, has already had the chance to fight for the WBC silver title in the United Kingdom.
Though she lost in the second round, her huge pay cheque of US$60 000 was enough to buy her a house and a new car that she moves around with in Lusaka.
“For someone who grew up in the care of my grandmother and we survived by growing and selling vegetables, I am grateful for this life.”
Bongani Ndlovu