Double wheelchair bodybuilding world champ Kulati pleads for funding to help him defend his title

JOHANNESBURG – Macethandile "Max" Kulati is a professional bodybuilder and two-time IBFF world champion.

The 35-year-old is South Africa’s first pro wheelchair bodybuilder and he’s itching to compete at the 2024 IBFF Africa Mr & Miss Universe happening in Johannesburg this October.

"The IBFF Mr & Miss Universe is important to me because I never did that show. In 2022, I won my lineup and I got my pro card in Koper, Slovenia in Europe. Then in 2023, I went back to defend my title hence now I'm a two-time IBFF disabled world champion. Now I want to lift my rankings and become the first IBFF Universe wheelchair pro bodybuilder in Africa," said Kulati to Eyewitness News.

The IBFF champion, like many other South African athletes, lacks the funding to fulfil his dream and hopes he won’t need to miss out on an opportunity to dominate the stage on home soil.

"I need funding assistance from everyone who can donate towards my preparations and for the accommodation, flights, stage fee and food. This will be for both me and the person who will be assisting me that week."

• Wheelchair bodybuilder raises funds to represent SA, defend title in Slovenia

Eyewitness News has followed Kulati’s journey from when he first needed assistance in 2021 to get to Gauteng from Uitenhage, to him getting his pro card and now to him defending his international title.

“I'm pleading to the minister of sport to please hear my cry. Bodybuilding is a hard sport and as one of the bodybuilders in SA, it's always this part that we are struggling with in the sport. Our goals depend on the nutrition we eat during and out of season and then you will find the hardest part where an individual like me will face more struggles to find sponsors, although you are well known, still it's a struggle. I wish I could get a sponsor that will help me through the year with nutrition and also for my competitions, then it will be less stressful for me."

The man, who hopes to one day compete at Mr Olympia, the world’s most prestigious bodybuilding competition, said he didn't have enough words to thank everyone who had been helping him.

Mr Olympia has catapulted the careers of legendary bodybuilders like Frank Zane, Ronnie Coleman, and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kulati hopes to have his name in the history books one day.

"When I'm going to a competition, I always motivate myself by saying that this is a long journey, and it won't be easy. It's either I become a failure or a winner and failing is not Max. The Max I know always wins against all odds no matter what."

HOW KULATI BECAME DISABLED

The wheelchair bodybuilder became disabled in 2014 after he slipped and fell while on duty at a local butchery. But he didn't let the injury decide his destiny.

Little did Kulati know that he would later experience numbness in his legs after a couple of weeks, which signalled his disability.

"I went to a doctor, who gave me an injection in my back, assuring me it would solve the problem. I felt better and went home. I went to sleep and when I woke up, I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t understand it. I had no sensation in my legs and they felt cold," he recounted.

Kulati, who grew up dancing, playing soccer and rugby, was referred to Livingstone Hospital in Gqeberha where medics conducted multiple tests on him.

"Doctors told me there was a growth in my spine that affected my nervous system. I underwent medical procedures, but my nervous system was damaged, and I was left paralysed from my waist down."

Kulati is a power-lifting champion and is now trying to make his mark as a bodybuilder, saying all he needed was a chance to prove himself.

"I'm a young man that's coming from a poor background who didn't even know that one day he'll become a professional bodybuilder and represent his country. And now I'm proud to say that I'm 'IBFF Pro Max'."

South Africa’s first pro-wheelchair bodybuilder, Macethandile "Max" Kulati defended his title at the 2023 International Federation of Body Building and Fitness (IBFF) World Championship in Koper, Slovenia.

"This win means a lot to me because it managed to open doors that I never thought that they will be open. It made my name 'Max' become the talk of the town and the headlines and the most important thing is I'm managing to touch the hearts of young people," said Kulati to Eyewitness News.

On lessons learned from competing as an athlete, Kumati added that it’s always important to bring your A-game to every competition.