{"id":56651,"date":"2015-11-18T22:13:28","date_gmt":"2015-11-19T03:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=56651"},"modified":"2015-11-18T22:14:56","modified_gmt":"2015-11-19T03:14:56","slug":"book-review-rose-of-soweto-the-dingaan-thobela-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=56651","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Rose of Soweto: The Dingaan Thobela Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_3204\"<\/a>Reviewed by Chris \u201cMan of Few Words\u201d Benedict<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLife is not a gentle road,\u201d reflected Dingaan Thobela in Deon Potgieter\u2019s excellent biography. \u201cThere are always bumps along the way. That made me feel that I must work hard to be able to achieve things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Life\u2019s bumpy yet character-building road began for Dingaan on September 24, 1966 in Soweto, South Africa, an urban off-shoot of Johannesburg and one-time home of Nelson Mandela. His youthful mother was unable to care for another child so sent her newborn baby boy to live with his paternal grandmother Maria Ndlovu who named him Dingaan after the Zulu king who attained the chieftainship from his half-brother Shaka (though he had to murder him to do so). Maria instilled Christian morals not only into Dingaan but their household which included Dingaan\u2019s father Godfrey, and two grandfathers (one Maria\u2019s husband, the other her brother) and their entire village of Chiawelo, the poorest section of Soweto.<\/p>\n

Seeing as though Godfrey was a strict practitioner of tough love with only the equivalent of a 6th grade education, the introverted Dingaan much preferred the company of his grandmother, even more so than that of his neighborhood friends, which earned him the reputation of a mama\u2019s boy. Potgieter\u2019s unfolding of the story of their relationship is a sweet one and is crucial in understanding the strength of Dingaan\u2019s moral fiber. \u201cBoy with the multi-colored jersey\u201d was a nickname applied by his companions to Dingaan owing to the shirt that Maria lovingly stitched together for him from a patchwork assortment of materials and textures with one sleeve longer than the other which he wore with a pair of mismatched and oversized shoes. Seeing as though the family certainly could not afford such superfluous expenditures, Dingaan saved for months the pocket money given to him on the odd occasion for food or sweets to buy a bicycle of his very own.
\nA dedicated student and voracious reader, he learned no less than eleven languages in order to converse in the various tribal dialects. One of Dingaan\u2019s adopted tongues was English so that he might also maneuver more comfortably within the white community of Johannesburg which was spoken of locally as \u201cthe other part of the world\u201d. For what it\u2019s worth, he remembers personally experiencing far more tribalism than racism as a youth, although he would happily participate in games of skoddyball and dibeke which helped the children assimilate into less hostile relations than those of their elders.<\/p>\n

Dingaan was but a boy of nine during the 1976 Soweto Uprising, a student rebellion against the introduction of the Germanic and Dutch-derived Afrikaans (referred to by Bishop Desmond Tutu as \u201cthe language of the oppressor\u201d) as the standard vernacular for their curriculum. Although he was entirely too young to grasp the protest\u2019s historical and cultural significance, Dingaan could not help but be affected by the violent police reaction. The early 1980s also saw enforced curfews and bans on daytime gatherings after the Apartheid-related Inkatha Freedom Party encroached on the Soweto turf of the African National Congress and Pan-Africanist Congress. These were the turbulent times into which Dingaan Thobela came of age although, as he would learn while applying for identification papers, he didn\u2019t really exist per se. Unable to link his name to any official records, Dingaan was taken by his father Godfrey to meet his birth mother Maria Kofa Mahlangu who had registered Dingaan under the name Bongani. Because Godfrey already had a son by that name, his grandmother (who by this time had sadly passed away) rechristened him as Dingaan when he was taken into their care. Returning to straighten out his existential conundrum for the city record keepers, he took the liberty of remaining Dingaan but adding Bongani as his middle name.<\/p>\n

Dingaan and his friend Eddie went to work for Godfrey\u2019s roving mini-cinemas which would pop up in whichever random location could accommodate them on a given day. They would run projection, work the door, and sell concessions in the form of fruit and nuts. Not to mention use their newfound influence to woo neighborhood girls. After seeing Enter the Dragon, Dingaan would spend hours hoping to appropriate Bruce Lee\u2019s conditioning and discipline as well as mimicking the fluidity of the Jeet Kune Do master\u2019s movements, even his blood-curdling scream. The Rocky movies helped him understand the work ethic necessary to obtain then maintain championship level in boxing, which Dingaan-already proficient at soccer, sprinting, and long jump in school-had lately taken an interest in, and he remembers crying when first seeing the remake of The Champ which taught him about the heavy emotional toll prizefighting could demand, as well as the supreme sacrifice its participants had to be mindful of and willing to make. Jacob Morake, the great super-featherweight known as \u201cDancing Shoes\u201d who trained at the Santo Boxing Academy when Dingaan first walked through its doors, was one such casualty after a fourth and fateful fight with South African National Champion and future WBA World title holder Brian Mitchell in 1985.<\/p>\n

Godfrey gifted his old pair of boxing gloves to his son and reached out to his friend, former welterweight boxer Norman Hlabane who accepted Dingaan into his New Canada gym, a facility with no ring where fresh-faced novices sparred not only alongside but often against seasoned veterans in one large open area. Dingaan cut his teeth competing, often barefoot, in amateur tournaments some of which were held in coal mines and most of which were systematically corrupt and amassed an 80-3 record, the crowning achievement of which was wining the South African National Boxing Federation lightweight title.<\/p>\n

Norman Hlabane utilized Salvador Sanchez as the template from which to create Dingaan\u2019s relentless training regimen. In fact, \u201cSanchez\u201d was his nickname early in his professional career until he began handing roses out to women attending his fights during his walk to the ring, which earned Dingaan the moniker \u201cRose of Soweto\u201d. This practice seemed contrary to his reputation as one of the most fearsome finishers in the game but fit quite nicely with his philosophy regarding his opponents which was that \u201cThey\u2019re not my enemies. They\u2019re my friends. We are engaging in a beautiful sporting activity together. To entertain people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voted South Africa\u2019s Prospect of the Year for 1987, Dingaan would suffer another tragic and untimely personal loss. His mother, with whom Dingaan had meaningfully reconnected since their initial introduction, was a dressmaker by trade and had stitched together a robe for him to wear into the ring for his sixth professional fight against Walter \u201cButcherman\u201d Mpungose but died unexpectedly before she could see her little boy draped in his new garment. Dingaan was recruited as a sparring partner for Brian Mitchell as the WBA Super-featherweight World Champion prepared for a non-title bout against Danilo Cabrera. He later developed the potent jab which would become his calling card although the name attributed to it-and spoken of in shorthand from then on between Dingaan and Norman Hlabane-was \u201cEd Cousins\u201d, after Mike Weaver\u2019s trainer who worked closely with Thobela while Weaver was gearing up toward a rematch against Johannesburg\u2019s Johnny du Plooy. These experiences proved invaluable to Dingaan who captured his first South African National Title over Super-featherweight champion Mpisekhaya Mbaduli later that same year, on October 1, 1988 in Mbaduli\u2019s hometown of Port Elizabeth no less.<\/p>\n

As Potgieter takes great care to reinforce throughout the course of his book, Dingaan remained humble in the face of success and its myriad trappings. Even as a national champion with very realistic world title aspirations who read the sports pages and could quote Shakespeare, Dingaan still attended school, walked his village barefoot, and worked his father Godfrey\u2019s makeshift movie houses on weekends whenever possible. Dingaan repeatedly and unsuccessfully called out Brian Mitchell at every opportunity, after defeating a succession of his former opponents to drive the point home, as it was believed throughout the boxing community-especially regionally-that theirs had the makings of a legendary rivalry. Despite the fact that he had been supplanted by Dingaan in 1989 as South Africa\u2019s Boxer of the Year (an honor Mitchell had won the previous three years), the world champion preferred to submit his belief, which was widely interpreted as trepidation or evasion, that Thobela was untested and unworthy and that his sights were already locked on big-name prey like Barry McGuigan, Azumah Nelson, and Tony \u201cThe Tiger\u201d Lopez.<\/p>\n

The first of three world title victories for Dingaan occurred on September 22, 1990 over inaugural WBO Lightweight Champion Mauricio Aceves in Brownsville, Texas after having already beaten Aceves in a non-title bout in Biloxi, Mississippi then winning a mandatory eliminator against Pascual Aranda. Potgieter writes that the fanfare surrounding Dingaan\u2019s homecoming dwarfed that of returning heavyweight champion Gerrie Coetzee following his defeat of WBA belt-holder Michael Dokes. Dingaan would enter into what became a fractious promotional arrangement with Coetzee after relinquishing his WBO title to challenge new WBA Lightweight Champion Tony Lopez in 1993. After losing a unanimous decision, one which was dubious enough that it was formally contested by no less than Nelson Mandela, who himself boxed as a young man and had met with Dingaan shortly following his release from 27 years of imprisonment, Thobela was granted another go-around with Tony \u201cThe Tiger\u201d called Day of Judgement in which he received his just reward. In terms of the victory anyway. As for his title belt, Coetzee never handed it over.<\/p>\n

Marvin Hagler likened the spartan existence of his training periods to \u201cputting myself in jail\u201d but if confinement to a lonely penal colony was an analogy to the Marvelous One, Dingaan did so in the literal sense, setting up camp at South Africa\u2019s Barberton Prison facility. Thobela would also mirror Hagler by traveling to Brockton, Massachusetts in preparation for his rematch against Orzubek Nazarov (to whom Dingaan lost the WBA title in his first defense) to train with Marvin\u2019s old pal Goody Petronelli.<\/p>\n

Dingaan\u2019s longtime girlfriend Basetsana Kumalo, who had already held the title of Miss Black South Africa, captured the 1994 Miss South Africa prize and was runner-up in the Miss World competition. The following year, Dingaan (who had been named Prospect of the Year in 1987 and 1989\u2019s Boxer of the Year) became the first pugilist to win the top three most prestigious categories at the South African Boxing Awards when his 1995 bout with Jaime \u201cRocky\u201d Balboa earned Fight of the Year honors. Shortly afterwards, Dingaan would do the unthinkable and depart from Norman Hlabane to train with Brian Mitchell in a short-lived but amicable relationship. The two would actually share many laughs about how Thobela blackened Mitchell\u2019s eye with a right uppercut during a sparring session, prompting many to further speculate heavily in Dingaan\u2019s favor about the outcome of an unfortunately never-to-be matchup. Rumored super-fights against Pernell Whitaker and Oscar De La Hoya likewise never materialized which, along with the fact that he so seldom fought abroad, contributed mightily to keeping Dingaan Thobela from becoming a household name outside of South Africa.<\/p>\n

Rose of Soweto, published by Penguin in 2009, ends with Thobela\u2019s third world title win over WBC Super-middleweight Champion Glen Catley three weeks shy of his 34th birthday, a fight his biographer Deon Potgieter covered for the Mail & Guardian newspaper and which established their relationship. \u201cDingaan and I have become good friends since the book’s release,\u201d Deon wrote to me recently. \u201cHe’s a really good guy, very gracious and caring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thobela\u2019s story, of course, goes on. His career lasted for another on-again, off-again six years following his win over Catley. All remaining seven contests resulted in losses, including his first defense against Dave Hilton, as well as to Mikkel Kessler, a young Lucian Bute, and-in his final fight-South African National Light-heavyweight Champion Soon Botes who Dingaan had defeated for his Super-middleweight title six and a half years earlier.<\/p>\n

Dingaan made headlines earlier this year for an arrest and ongoing investigation involving his Rose Funeral Parlour which has been in operation since the 1990s. As Potgieter explained to me, \u201cThe legal issue is surrounding not having registered his funeral biz as a financial service provider, yet providing said services on occasion. Since this regulation came in there are literally thousands of funeral parlors in the same situation. Dingaan is just the highest profile person involved so he has been targeted. An advocate involved in redrafting the current legislation around funeral parlors has even stepped up in defense of Dingaan, saying it is ridiculous to persecute him, as even the bigger more commercial parlors are guilty of this as a result of the existing regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Potgieter is writing and will be directing what he intends to be a four-film series based on Dingaan\u2019s life, with the first (covering Dingaan\u2019s early years) currently in development under the title \u201cThe Boy with the Multi-Colored Jersey\u201d. Deon says that \u201cThe only actor attached at this point is Junior Miya (in the role of young Dingaan), a very talented young actor who played the lead in a television drama series I wrote and directed entitled “Snake Park\u201d (Season 2) which is currently on air in South Africa and is receiving high acclaim. We are considering bringing in a few US actors i.e. Cuba Gooding Jnr. as his dad and Danny Glover as one of his grandfathers. We are planning to shoot mid 2016 with a 2017 release.\u201d<\/p>\n

Available as an e-book for Kindle, hard copies unfortunately seem to be of very limited availability at the moment but will hopefully see a movie tie-in reprint edition with a wider distribution to coincide with the roll out of Deon Potgieter\u2019s films. But take my word for it that those hardcore bibliophiles and fight fans inclined to undertake the endeavor of tracking a physical copy down in the meantime will be well rewarded for their time and effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a story they used to tell me about a man who had a dream that the spirits of his ancestors came to him and told him that he would find wealth if he were to dig in their graves,\u201d Dingaan reminisces. \u201cHe went out and dug around their graves and found a lot of gold there. While some people think the story literally means that their ancestors buried treasure for them to find, I think it means that we can find treasure in the knowledge and wisdom of those who have gone before us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Order your COPY NOW<\/a><\/p>\n

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