OBITUARY | He forgot an Olympian’s name, but SA will never forget Dumile Mateza

Dumile Mateza, who died on Tuesday at the age of 62 after battling cancer, possessed a unique voice and pronunciation that made him instantly recognisable as a  commentator.

He became famous countrywide at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics — SA’s first Games back after three decades of isolation — for a gaffe he dished up on SABC TV during the opening ceremony.

As the team of one nation walked onto the track during the march-by, the camera focused on a few athletes and Mateza asked in his poetic manner: “Who can ever forget the name of this well-known athlete?” and proceeded to forget his name.

That earned him a spot as a sports question in a South African version of Trivial Pursuit.

But he was able to laugh at himself. In 2002, when he was the acting CEO of the national boxing commission, I was interviewing him in his office in Pretoria.

I forget the context now, but he asked: “What was I doing 10 years ago?”

“You were at the Barcelona Olympics,” I replied, and started smiling as I thought of his gaffe. I didn’t tell him what I was thinking, but he clearly knew and we burst out laughing simultaneously.

He dropped a few other clangers in Barcelona, like referring to Costa Rica as an African country (the Sunday Times, poking fun at him for the error, got it wrong itself by saying the Central American state was in South America).

He also proclaimed Barbados to be the producer of “so many great cricketers including Vivian Richards”, except that the legendary West Indies skipper was actually from Antigua and Barbuda.

Mistakes aside, Mateza spent countless hours entertaining fans in a wide variety of sports.

He covered the SA cricket team’s return to international competition in India in 1991, which was his first overseas trip. He also covered the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and got to go to the famous Augusta golf course, home of the US Masters.

He had to endure some tough trips too, like covering a soccer match in Ponte-Noire in 1997, when gun-toting soldiers tried to intimidate Bafana players and media.

Mateza moved into sports administration for a while, heading up the marketing and communications department for the 1999 All-Africa Games in Johannesburg.

He drew the ire of West African journalists after running out of tog bags that were being given as gifts to media covering the showpiece.

While Mateza had his critics, he was erudite and he loved reading non-fiction, particularly biographies. More recently he regaled his Facebook friends with historical facts.

Mateza was appointed interim CEO of a bankrupt SA national boxing commission in mid-2000, being the only office-bearer and trying to restore order among licensees and officials, many of whom took advantage and cut corners where they could.

The sheriff might have had limited ammunition, but Mateza wasn’t scared to take on all comers if he felt they deserved it. 

Perhaps his most memorable act was hammering Eastern Cape officials over the deaths of two boxers in 2001. He wrote in the commission’s  annual report: “It is important to note that both the deaths ... could have been avoided had the officials in the Eastern Cape acted more prudently and with care.

“In one year two boxers die due to negligence by officials and no inquiry or inquest is conducted. One death is one too many.”

No local boxing official has spoken so frankly and honestly about culpability of boxers’ deaths since then.

He had a fun side too, and every now and then he would break into operatic song.

Mateza didn’t survive the commission’s transformation into Boxing SA (BSA), though he returned in 2011 after being appointed as a board member, chairing the sanctioning committee, the regulator said in a tribute to Mateza on Wednesday.

“He was versatile and able to commentate in isiXhosa, English and Afrikaans and was loved by sports enthusiasts for his decorated accent and twang. This walking sports encyclopaedia was blessed with a wealth of knowledge,” BSA said.

SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) president Barry Hendricks described him as a “legend in the making”.