He watched villagers get strung up and burned alive - and was jailed as a boy because a white girl liked him. This is the harrowing story of how Lovemore Ndou escaped a nightmare in Africa to become a VERY successful Australian

He's a former world champion boxer who went on to become one of Australia's most established lawyers, but the story of Lovemore Ndou's rise to the top is as harrowing as it is inspirational.   

Mr Ndou grew up in the extremely poor town of Musina, on the South Africa-Zimbabwe border, wading through rivers teeming with crocodiles to feed his impoverished family. 

As a child in the 1970s under the horrors of apartheid - a racial segregation policy imposed by an all-white South African government - he survived being lashed and brutalised by police because a white girl liked him.

He watched in horror as his best friend was shot dead and was forced to witnessed community members get strung up, doused in fuel and burned alive.

Despite the atrocities he witnessed growing up, the father-of-three, now 49, told Daily Mail Australia his natural talent for boxing saved his life, helped him leave his homeland and gave him the opportunity to study law and change lives for the better.

Prior to moving to Zimbabwe at the age of nine to learn to read and write, Mr Ndou had never been to school and spent his days trying to keep his parents and six siblings alive by catching fish in the Limpopo river.

'I watched people get eaten and maimed by crocodiles in that river, but in my tribe we had a saying - if you've never done wrong by others, a crocodile will not touch you,' he said, adding with a laugh: 'So I wasn't worried.'

Mr Ndou (pictured today) is now a lawyer with three children in Sydney, age 24, 19 and 17

Lovemore Ndou (pictured as a child) grew up in an extremely poor family in the small town of Musina, on the South Africa-Zimbabwe border, in the 1970s under a legislated racial segregation policy known as apartheid

Lovemore Ndou was not educated until he turned nine and his family moved to Zimbabwe

Pictured: Mr Ndou as a young man in South Africa. He took up boxing at the age of 14 

'Looking at it now, I can see I really put my life on the line. Every day I risked my life.'

The family moved to Zimbabwe in 1980 so the children could escape the broken  schooling system in South Africa. 

Mr Ndou had to walk to school with no shoes and work as a gardener in his spare time to fund his education. 

That same year, his father - who worked as a part-time mechanic and fisherman - was nearly killed when he was hit in the back with an axe by one of Robert Mugabe's soldiers.

Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist for 37 years, before he was forced out in 2017 following a military takeover.

Pictured: Mr Ndou (third right beside Australian boxing legend Kostya Tszyu) with friends in South Africa in 1989, before he moved to Australia seven years later

Pictured: Mr Ndou at Brendon Smith's gym in Charlton, Toowoomba, Queensland, in 1996

After trying and failing at a range of sports due to his hot temper, a soccer coach recommended he try boxing. Pictured: Mr Ndou at the age of 24

After his father's life-changing injury, Mr Ndou, being the eldest boy, was charged with the full responsibility of looking after his family.

'It was hard, but we managed,' he said. 

Meanwhile, Mr Ndou tried and failed at a range of sports due to his hot temper, before a soccer coach recommended he try boxing.

'One day I knocked this kid out cold on the soccer field and a security guard walked me off, and he said "soccer is not for you - you always get into trouble", and then he said "why don't you try out boxing"?' 

The 14-year-old's talent was recognised right away, but he had trouble controlling his rage and would blindly throw punches towards his opponent.

Tough Love by Lovemore Ndou, New Holland Publishers, $32.99

Pictured: Mr Ndou with Kosta Tszyu - a Soviet-born Australian former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2005

Pictured: Lovemore Ndou posing with all his belts after his last bout in 2012 on the Gold Coast

'I thought boxers were angry, but it's the opposite. Boxing is calculated and scientific - it's like chess. When I started to calm down, I could anticipate what my opponent was going to do, and I got a lot better,' he said. 

Boxing wasn't the only time Ms Ndou's temper got the better of him.

At the age of 16, he went to buy groceries from the local supermarket when a white girl showed interest in him.

'She would move to whatever checkout I was at, and sometimes she would give me things for free - she really showed that she was interested,' he said. 

When the girl's father found out, he flew into a rage and contacted police who swiftly arrested the teenager and locked him up for three months, without charge.

Police thought he was having sex with the girl, which was illegal under apartheid, but they couldn't prove it so he was charged with stealing 50-cent lollies.

Pictured: Johnny Lewis presenting Lovemore Ndou with the IBF World Title Belt in 2007

The court sentenced him to six lashings as punishment, and he still has the scars today.

When he was being whipped, rage boiled inside the teenager and he said 'f*** you' to police.

'They kicked me, set a dog on me which bit my face. They almost killed me - I spent some time in hospital, and that's when I thought about being a lawyer or a politician,' he recalled. 

'Even if I did commit the crime, the punishment didn't justify it. How do you get sentenced to six lashings for that? So I wasn't getting punished for theft, they were punishing me for the girl.' 

Mr Ndou knew his talent for boxing was his ticket out, and eventually won 66 out of 68 amateur fights before turning professional in 1993.

He won his next five fights for South Africa before he travelled to Newcastle, north of Sydney, for his first Australian bout in 1995.

Pictured: Lovemore during his 2012 bout in the Gold Coast against Gary St Clair. He won the WBF welterweight World Title

'Even though I lost the fight, I fell in love with the country. It was love at first sight,' he said.

'Australians treated me as a human being and I loved that - I wasn't accustomed to that, coming from racist South Africa, and I went back and told my wife at the time we were moving.'

The champion moved to Sydney with his now-ex wife and stepchild in 1996, before they had three children together.

He went on to claim 11 victories in Australia, while studying law in his spare time, and was eventually inducted into the Australian Boxing Hall of Fame. 

When he retired from boxing in 2012, the three-time world champion racked up six university degrees and became a lawyer, vowing to bring justice to victims of racial vilification.

Pictured Lovemore Ndou in Sydney with his granddaughters Aaliyah and Jamilia, their mother Maxine (second right) and his daughter Marion

Pictured: Lovemore Ndou holding his granddaughter Aaliyah and flanked by daughter Marion and son Lovemore Jr when he graduated with a Master of Human Rights Law

Mr Ndou runs his own family law practise in Rockdale in Sydney and commits to pro bono work for indigenous Australians.

'It's also my way of giving back to the Australian community,' he said.

While he has been back to South Africa many times since his departure in 1996, Mr Ndou wants to return and become a politician to make a positive difference in the country.  

'It's been 26 years since South Africa became a democratic state, but there hasn't been much done in terms of improving life for the ordinary person,' he said. 

'There are still people living in shacks, shortage of running water, children going to bed with an empty stomach and domestic violence is through the roof - women and children are getting raped everyday.' 

Pictured: Mr Ndou with his granddaughters, Aaliyah and Jamila, dressed in tribal colours

Pictured: Mr Ndou with his son Lovemore Jr in Sydney following his Year 12 graduation in 2020

He said that even though apartheid was abolished in 1994, South Africans are still being discriminated against for the colour of their skin. 

To motivate others who feel stuck in impoverished or unfortunate situations, Mr Ndou published a book called Tough Love, released on November 22, to show people they can overcome life's hurdles.

'Nothing is impossible in this world, despite how your life starts,' he said. 'Always pursue your dream.'

Tough Love by Lovemore Ndou, New Holland Publishers, $32.99 RRP, available from all good book stores or online www.newhollandpublishers.com