Ndou believes SA is not poor, but rather poorly governed

LIMPOPO – Former boxing champion Lovemore Ndou announced that he is running for the 2024 election as an independent candidate in the national assembly.

Ndou, who hails from Musina, is a former three-time welterweight champion who returned to South Africa to launch a political campaign for an independent seat on Building a Better South Africa.

As a child growing up in South Africa, Ndou said he experienced extreme poverty and the injustices of Apartheid that witnessed atrocities committed against his family and community; that he was a victim of police brutality and saw his best friend gunned down in a street protest. Against all odds, he succeeded and rose to become a three-time boxing world champion and then a successful lawyer and author.

The 52-year-old left South Africa in 1996, searching for greener pastures in Australia, and insists his patriotic umbilical cord with South Africa has never been severed.

With seven university degrees and a successful law firm back in Sydney, Ndou said he was deeply troubled by the state of the nation in South Africa, where he grew up in extreme poverty.

“I have decided to contest as an independent candidate in the election because there is an urgent need for a change in South Africa. When I left South Africa 27 years ago, I stayed connected with my country. I know what’s been happening, as I have been an observer of the ANC and I know that our country is on the brink of collapse, and that concerns me. I had to take a step into politics, and it’s not just a decision I have made overnight, but a profound decision that should be based not only on personal ambition but on the need for change. I want change and a better South Africa for all. The biggest problem we have as a country is that most politicians go into politics for the wrong reasons, which is to make money and to become rich and that’s what is destroying our country. South Africa is not a poor country, but we are poorly governed. What concerns me is being 30 years in an ANC government and economically, the ANC has destroyed the country more than the Apartheid system did,” said Ndou.

He said the damage that the ANC has done in 30 years, can be repaired by a good government in a period of 10 years.

“In 1994, before the first democratic election, the ANC made many promises: to build better schools, better health care centres, better educational systems, better housing, and more jobs and where are those things now? Instead, we have got corruption. Once I secure a seat in the national assembly, I will be in a position to scrutinise and judge the activities, policies, and legislation. I will be able to operate as the voice of the voiceless and act as a check on the power of the government of the day. I will be in a position to decide matters of national interest while also representing the interests of the people in my province. I will be able to propose, debate, and vote on bills and amendments. I am running for office because I believe the country is in trouble. The country is at the brink of collapse due to corruption and self-enrichment by those in power,” he said.

He told CV that the country is on the brink of a total meltdown and that the recovery of infrastructure will take longer if action is not taken now.

“Unlike the ANC or any of the opposition parties or independent candidates, I have no ulterior motive other than to serve the people of South Africa and lead the country out of the crisis created by the ANC. I am deeply grounded in the best aspirations of the country and I am not afraid to speak out and call out culprits,” he said.