Boxing SA’s Ayanda Khumalo pleads with female boxers not to train in isolated areas

Boxing SA chairperson Ayanda Khumalo has strongly condemned the recent ruthless slaughter of eight defenceless women.

She described it as an unbearable, suffocating heaviness which has settled over the nation, with its epicentre tearing through the communities of the Ekurhuleni region.

“The bodies of women have been discovered dumped in chilling, inhumane conditions,” she said. “At least eight precious lives have been snuffed out by faceless, merciless perpetrators who treat human dignity as if it were worth nothing.

“These are not merely statistics on a death register. These are daughters, sisters, mothers, and friends whose futures have been violently stolen, leaving behind a wake of unimaginable grief and a nation weeping in pain.

“This horror hits agonisingly close to home for our sporting family,” she said.

“Among our 184 female professional licensees, we are proud to count 90 licensed female boxers.

“Our sisters belong to the light. We refuse to let them be consumed by the dark.” — Boxing SA chairperson Ayanda Khumalo

“For these phenomenal women, running and roadwork are not just optional training exercises. They are the sacred heartbeat of their conditioning, endurance, and cardiovascular preparation.

“Day in and day out, they lace up their sneakers and take to the public roads and open spaces to chase their dreams inside the ring. Today, those very roads have become hunting grounds for predators.”

Khumalo added that the thought of fierce, dedicated female athletes stepping out into the early morning breeze or late afternoon twilight to condition their bodies, only to run into the crosshairs of a marauding predator, “fills us with profound anxiety and a deep, aching fear”.

“We are naturally shaken to our core and profoundly uneasy,” she said.

“The environment that should foster their athletic growth has morphed into a theatre of terror.

“To our 184 female licencees, and particularly our 90 female boxers, we appeal to you not just as your regulator, but as a sister, a mother, and an advocate for your safety. We implore you with every fibre of our being to exercise extreme caution.”

She added: “Please, we beg of you, do not run alone. Refrain from training in isolated, secluded areas, and never venture out after dark.

“No training session, no title preparation, and no routine is worth the ultimate sacrifice of your life. Let us protect one another, alter our schedules, and lean on collective safety measures so that we do not lose any other soul to this senseless brutality.

“To the families and loved ones of our sisters whose lives have been brutally cut short, please know that the entire boxing community stands with you in this darkest hour.

“We mourn with you, we share in your excruciating pain, and our arms are wrapped around you in solidarity.

“We cannot allow fear to completely paralyse our society, but neither can we look away. We issue a passionate call to the public and our law enforcement agencies: let us reclaim our communities.”

Khumalo said: “Our sisters belong to the light. We refuse to let them be consumed by the dark. Please stay safe, look out for one another, and may the memories of those we have lost guide us toward a safer, more compassionate South Africa.”