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MATHEBULA: FALLEN CHAMPION

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By JOSEPH LELYVELD, Special to the New York Times (The New York Times); Sports Desk

April 1, 1981, Wednesday

Late City Final Edition, Section B, Page 11, Column 1, 1463 words

[ DISPLAYING ABSTRACT ]

He was called Terror, and for the heady 15 weeks he reigned as the first black South African to hold a world championship, virtually all sides in this starkly divided country, with the exception of a fringe of black political activists, were ready to claim him proudly as their own. Peter (Terror) Mathebula was little known in South Africa before last December, when he won the World Boxing Association's flyweight title from a Korean named Tae Shik Kim in Los Angeles. Then suddenly even the Afrikaans-language press, which caters to the dominant white group and has little or no black readership, was proclaiming him excitedly ''Ons Wereldkampioen!'' - ''Our World Champion!'' Actually there was some question whether, under the country's laws, Mathebula was a South African at all. He is of Tswana tribal origins, and, with the supposed independence of the Tswana homeland - known as Bophuthatswana - all Tswanas have been theoretically shorn of their South African citizenship, even if they continue to live in South Africa. But Mathebula said he regarded himself a South African, and the Government gave him a South African passport. Only the opposition press was churlish enough to raise the question.

                                                                                                                                                               

After watching Ntate Mathebula's docummentary I was moved to tears when this question forced its way into my mind, When are we going to start documenting and tell stories of our own people for the coming generations??

I have never realised the impact and the grand scale in which Ntate Mathebula influenced the next generation of boxers across the land and how until then black athletes were deprived  a space and a chance to compete against the world best. It is my opinion that one of the reason why there is a decline in our people participating in sport across all codes is that we have allowed such legends as Ntate Mathebula to fade amongst us, to become the forgotten champions and the inspiration and pride is not passed on.

There are men and women who like Ntate Peter "Terror" Mathebula went against all odds in those hopeless rings, ropes against their necks and punched that supreme and grand man made wall until it cracked, so that the children might see the light on the other side to navigate the path of the ancestors.

 Such stories must be told until "Terror" is invoke in everyone us, to stand tall and punch with all our might and strength, even if the judge is not one of us but the power is in us...It is always better to draw water from the well of your people!!

The Conquering LION shall break every chain...give HIM Victory and Honour.