Limpopo-born former boxing champion, Lovemore Ndou, who is now based in Australia, has announced that he is running for the 2024 elections as an independent candidate in the National Assembly.
The 52-year-old former three-time welterweight champion has returned to South Africa to launch a political campaign for an independent seat.
Born in Musina, Limpopo, Ndou left South Africa in 1996, searching for greener pastures in Australia. The talented boxer said he does not regret relocating “Down Under” as the move bolstered his meteoric rise to stardom. He insists his patriotic umbilical cord with South Africa has never been cut off.
“I have been living in Australia for 27 years now. I left in 1996. I don’t regret making the move, it was one of the best things I did in my life because Australia has been great to me, provided me with a lot of opportunities. I am where I am today because of those opportunities that the country provided me with,”
Ndou says his decision to relocate back to South Africa permanently is inspired by his passion to help the country grow. With seven university degrees and a successful law firm back in Sydney, Ndou says he leads an opulent life in Australia.
“Because I am still a citizen, as a citizen I have the responsibility, like I said. I am concerned about the current situation in South Africa. I have a great lifestyle in Australia, and I have set up myself well. I don’t have to come here, in fact, for me being here I am sacrificing a lot. I have a business, I am a qualified lawyer, and I own a law firm. I have to give up all that to come here.”
Video: Former boxing champion Lovemore Ndou to contest elections as independent candidate
The erstwhile IBO welterweight champion says Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is a prime cause of socio-economic challenges in South Africa, and he believes he holds the solution.
“One other biggest mistake we made was the introduction of BEE. The idea behind it was laudable. It was a policy that was put in place to allow people of colour to participate in the economy, which they were denied during the apartheid system, but the problem is that BEE turned into a trigger of corruption,”
Ndou was on the verge of forming a political party known as Building A Better South Africa. However, after President Ramaphosa signed the Electoral Amendment Bill into law in June last year, Ndou relished an opportunity to enter the presidential race as an independent candidate.
The new law allows independent candidates not associated with political parties to contest the national and provincial elections. Meanwhile, Ndou campaign lieutenants have their work cut out for them.
“The campaign is doing very well because we have been to Musina in the past few days, doing campaigns, different churches were welcoming us. So, our leadership Lovemore Ndou has been speaking to them, telling them. People know him, it is a matter of touching here and there, to remind them of the leadership he is coming with. The change he is preparing,” says Matodzi Mudimeli, Ndou Election Campaign.
Ndou is racing against time to take his campaign countrywide.
