Boxing on the banks of the Princess Vlei
When Coach Romeo and I first decided to box anywhere, I knew we had to take our boxing onto the banks of the Princess Vlei, which has a rich history, particularly for the indigenous people of the Western Cape.
The vlei a wetland system on the Cape Flats of Cape Town, was saved from development by a group of committed activists who were determined that the community would be better served by a green lung than yet another shopping mall.
The Cape Flats represents large portions of Cape Town where, under the apartheid-era forced removals, scores of locals were displaced from their homes in areas near the city centre, to make way for white residents.
Today, many parts of the Cape Flats are ravaged by economic poverty and crime, with Princess Vlei having also once been a no-go area because a criminal element had taken over.
When Coach Romeo and I went to box there, it was in celebration of our natural heritage, and that the activists – with the support of many others – had managed to overturn plans to develop a mall in this ecologically rich area.
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