Lovemore Ndou in shock bid for South African presidency, plans to end corruption and protect white farmers

Australia’s former boxing world champion Lovemore Ndou has a new challenge, which is bigger than any world title fight. And he’s already prepared for assassination attempts on his life.

Lovemore Ndou LLG

He has knocked back an offer from NSW Premier Chris Minns to join the Labor Party and Lovemore Ndou says he is “willing to die” as he prepares an audacious bid to become president of his native South Africa.

The former boxing world champion-turned-lawyer is launching a campaign as an independent for the 2024 elections and is already preparing to face assassination attempts as he vows to end corruption.

“People are getting killed there every day, people who oppose the current government,” Ndou said. “I am well aware of that but this is something I am willing to die for.

“I know I will present significant danger to those who hold power, they may try to assassinate me, but I am prepared to die for a better South Africa.

“I have not made this decision lightly, it took a lot of consideration, and I have waited until my children are adults so they can make the choice as to whether they come with me or stay in Australia.

Sydney lawyer and former boxing world champion Lovemore Ndou is following in the footsteps of his idol, Nelson Mandela, as he prepares a bid to become president of South Africa. Picture: Richard Dobson

“With any great change comes risk. My family and I know the risks but as Dante Alighieri and Martin Luther King Jr said, there is a place in hell reserved for those who choose to remain quiet in times of moral conflict.

“Even if they do assassinate me, someone will take over and continue the struggle that began with Nelson Mandela.”

Ndou is a former two-division world champion who fought some of the greatest fighters of the modern era, including Canelo Alvarez, Miguel Cotto and Sharmba Mitchell.

Since hanging up his gloves, the 52-year-old, who has modelled his life on Mandela’s, has completed seven university degrees and set up his own law firm in southern Sydney.

Ndou often does boxing training with Minns.

“I am close friends with Chris Minns,” Ndou said. “I look at him as a mentor when it comes to political issues. He is an easy guy to talk to.

“He did reach out to me and said ‘Why don’t you come join us, work with the Labor Party in NSW?’

Boxers Lovemore Ndou (R) against opponent Saul Alvarez in 2010.

“It was a great offer but I think we have enough capable men and women in Australia in politics, whereas we lack capable politicians in South Africa.

“I feel I’ve done my best to help Australia. When I was a boxing world champion I represented Australia, through my law firm I have helped hundreds of Australians, I have served in the Australian Defence Force, during Covid and the floods I was out there in the communities.

“It’s time for me to help South Africa, the country is on the brink of collapse.

“The biggest problem in South Africa is corruption and I will be fighting hard against corruption.”

Ndou, who has five children and two grandchildren, will relocate to South Africa in the coming weeks and has already established a team on the ground to help with his campaign.

Taking on sitting president Cyril Ramaphosa and the powerful African National Congress party will not be easy, particularly with Ndou campaigning for a Senate seat on a number of hot-button issues that include the killing of white farmers by black residents.

“The ANC have put a lot of these murders down to general crime but white farmers are getting targeted and killed and that must be acknowledged,” Ndou said.

“It concerns me because by the ANC doing that they are repeating the actions of the former racist regime that enforced apartheid.

Lovemore Ndou with his political "mentor", NSW Premier Chris Minns, and Hall of Fame boxing trainer Johnny Lewis.

“My government will not hesitate to use military force to protect these farmers. Not all white farmers gained their land illegally.

“Following the end of apartheid, a policy was introduced called Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), so that people of colour in South Africa had greater representation and participation in the country’s economy and key decisions.

“It was an important and necessary step, the idea behind it at the time was great, but BEE has now created an avalanche of corruption.

“There are people taking back land without a plan, people now taking farms with no farming experience. That is disastrous for the economy.

“Look at what happened with Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. He took all the land and gave it to his friends.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Picture: AFP

Aside from corruption and protecting white farmers, Ndou will focus his campaign on fixing the electricity and water crises engulfing South Africa, closing the gap on education and replacing shanty towns with modular homes.

“I was born in a little hut, I didn’t start school until I was nine years old and had to work at the same time,” Ndou said.

“I swam in crocodile-infested rivers to catch fish to feed my family. I know what it is to go to bed on an empty stomach.

“I have modelled my life on Nelson Mandela. He was an amateur boxer, I became a world champion. He was a lawyer, I own my own law firm. Not many people know he served in the military, I served in the Defence Force.

“He spent 27 years in jail. I’ve spent 27 years living in Australia and now it’s time for me to go back and help rebuild South Africa, just as Mandela did.”

Originally published as Lovemore Ndou in shock bid for South African presidency, plans to end corruption and protect white farmers