Cries from the fight fraternity for a permanent CEO for Boxing SA have been answered. Sports minister Nathi Mthethwa has appointed Golden Gloves CEO Rodney Berman with immediate effect.

Berman, whose company has staged international tournaments that produced close to 100 world champions since 1977, assumes office on Monday for a three-year period.

Nsikayezwe Sithole, a member of the board of Boxing SA, finished his term on Thursday.

Mthethwa told Sowetan in an exclusive interview on Thursday that he could no longer wait for the board of Boxing SA to sort out its issues with expelled CEO Moffat Qithi.

“I gave BSA more than enough time to sort this Qithi issue but it seems there is more than what meets the eye. I have since made this appointment,” said Mthethwa, who sounded irritated by the long drawn out matter between Boxing SA and Qithi.

Qithi won a case of unfair dismissal against the regulator at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration in 2019. Boxing SA was ordered to pay Qithi R4m after he was sacked in 2015 and not paid his R100,000 monthly salary for three years. It was also ruled that Qithi should report for duty on January 7 2020.

The BSA board took the matter up with the labour court and nothing has happened since.

Added Mthethwa: “I have been headhunting Rodney Berman for a very long time. How do you ignore a CEO whose boxing company has done great for over 40 years? We discussed the matter around him and Golden Gloves and we found each other. There will be no conflict of interest; I believe the future of boxing in our country is golden.”

Berman said: “To be honest with you this was a very difficult decision to make. Golden Gloves has been my life since when I was a handsome young man with an afro on my head. But what do you say when your country says come serve? This is the last chapter in my life with boxing. Three years from now I am gone to retirement.”