Zinzile Mavuso“Uncle Kathy, as we knew him, was an ardent supporter of the Palestinian struggle and understood the importance of the historical, and current links between South Africans and Palestinians.
Unlike Mandela, Uncle Kathy was no boxer. He did however, have an appreciation for sport and its ability to bring people together.
This is what the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation had to say in support of the tournament and its ability to people of different races together
On Robben Island for example, where he was jailed for 26 years, prisoners were sometimes allowed to play sports. It is rather ironic that while non racial sports was not allowed in the country at the time, prisoners on Robben Island were playing sports in multi-racial teams, in some ways creating a vision of what a non racial future should look like.
In the same way that sports brought prisoners together on Robben Island, we think that this boxing tournament has the potential to bring South Africans and Palestinians even closer together.
We extend our thanks to the Palestinian Embassy, BDS, the clubs represented and all the organisers for pulling together this event.
To the club officials, coaches and managers, thank you for encouraging our youth to play sports, have fun, make friends and importantly, to build their characters. Perhaps through sporting events like this one, our youth can get a better understanding of the human rights that young people like themselves, are denied in Palestine.
To the boxers, all the best for the games ahead and we hope that you thoroughly enjoy the day.”
