The Congress of South African Trade Unions joins millions of people in South Africa and around the world to mourn the untimely death of boxing legend Lehlohonolo Ledwaba. We send our heartfelt condolences to his family, colleagues, and friends.

Lehlohonolo Ledwaba was a South African sporting icon who carried the South African flag higher and contributed immensely to shaping the Sports and Recreation sector in South Africa. He is amongst a select few who took the noble and honest sport of boxing to great heights.

The former IBF junior featherweight champion was part of a contingent of South African sportsmen and women who announced the country’s arrival into the international Sports scene after the fall of the criminal apartheid regime.

His professional boxing record was impressive, having fought about 43 times and winning 36 of those fights and losing 6 and drawing 1. He gave a brutalised and traumatised nation a reason to be proud and hopeful. He was a sporting ambassador who represented everything that was good and positive about this country.

But he was not just an international sporting icon, he was also a champion off the boxing ring, as well. He was an activist who contributed immensely to the fight against patriarchy in the sport of boxing.

He contributed to the promotion of women in boxing and was at the forefront of the fundraising and altruistic efforts to help those women boxers who found themselves at the bottom end of the economic pyramid.

He was a familiar face and a sporting emissary for this country for over a decade and is leaving behind a rich legacy.

His untimely death represents the end of an era, and we will continue to remember him as a pioneering and dedicated sporting legend, who took his craft seriously.

He was exemplary, and commanded immense respect.

May his soul rest in peace!

 Issued by COSATU

 Sizwe Pamla (COSATU National Spokesperson)

Tel: 011 339 4911
Fax: 011 339 5080
Cell: 060 975 679