Between 1970 and 2010, an area just 45.55 square metres in size in the Eastern Cape produced an astonishing 22 boxing world champions and 50 national champions. That place was Mdantsane. Described as ‘The Mecca of Boxing in South Africa’, this single community has accounted for 33 per cent of South African boxing world champions since the 1920s.
Driven by a lifelong fascination with the sport, in Boxers Die Alone Prof Njabulo S. Ndebele applies his intellectual and philosophical mind to this phenomenon how it came about and whether it still applies today. He steps past the modern technology that allows us to stream fights in real time, choosing instead to delve deep into the origin story of a township that was constructed intentionally to provide Black labour to a white town.
Three champions across three generations are singled out for review, Nkosana ‘Happy Boy’ Mgxaji, Vuyani ‘The Beast’ Bungu and Nkosinathi ‘Mabhere’ Joyi. The historical roots of displacement and familiar struggles to find a way out of poverty make the Mdantsane boxing legends all the more extraordinary.
About the author
Professor Njabulo S Ndebele is an established scholar, public figure, and author whose critical and creative writing have tackled the effects of the apartheid regime on black communities, the rhetoric of protest, democracy and reconciliation, and the system of higher education in South Africa. He regularly plays the role of a public intellectual through his interventions in the media on topical issues facing South Africa. Ndebele’s published works include Fools and other Stories (1983, 2006); Rediscovery of the Ordinary (1991, 2006); Bonolo and the Peach Tree (1991); Sarah, Rings and I (1993); Death of a Son (1996); the original edition of The Cry of Winnie Mandela (2003, republished in 2013); and Fine Lines from the Box (2007).