Paralympians stranded
Namibia’s Paralympians are still unsure of their departure to the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games as government has not yet honoured its commitment to fully fund their participation in the international event.
A team of three athletes, three guides, a physiotherapist, doctor, the secretary general and coach
After embarrassingly misinterpreting its own Act twice and then desperately going on to create an ‘illegal’ registration and compliance committee – all in an attempt to block the Namibia Premier League (NPL) from being registered as a sport body for professional football, the Namibia Sport Commission (NSC) yesterday finally threw in the towel.
Following its expulsion by the Namibia Football Association (NFA) last year, the NPL moved on with life and registered with the Business and Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA) as a Section 21 were supposed to depart on 05 August 2021 for Tokyo, where they were to prepare before the start of the Paralympic Games on 24 August 2021.
Namibia Paralympic Committee (NPC) President Johannes Litwayi in an interview with on Tuesday said the Namibia National Olympic Committee company with the aim of going fully professional - away from the NFA’s amateurish premiership structures.
After finalising its registration with BIPA, next was to secure recognition from the NSC as a sport body responsible for regulating and managing all professional football within the country but the NSC rejected the league’s application, saying such a move will ‘upset Fifa bosses in Zurich’.
Left with no choice, the NPL’s leadership took their grievances to the national appeals committee and after numerous hearings and reviewing of all available evidence from both parties, the appeals committee advised the NSC to go back and review its decision not (NNOC) and the NPC were promised N$3 million by the government for their participation in the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games, with N$1.5 million of that amount earmarked for the Paralympics.
The NPC, through the Sports Commission, thus far only received N$650 000 of the N$1.5 million, which has already been spent on paying for some expenses towards the games.
“We received money from the Sports Commission which we used to pay for the deputy minister’s expenses to recognise the NPL as a sport body for professional football, after finding that the NSC had no legal or procedural grounds for such a decision. The NSC went back and again returned to the appeals committee with the same position not to recognise the NPL, saying their decision was fully supported by an alien ‘registration and compliance committee’- a committee that was formed in the eleventh hour with the sole purpose to reject the NPL’s application.
Not satisfied, the NPL launched another appeal with the appeals committee and a few weeks ago, the appeals committee for the umpteenth time ruled that the sport commission had no legal grounds such as flight and accommodation as well as for the team’s attire and the NPC president’s flight ticket,” said Litwayi, who added that their line ministry is now using excuses of them only having three athletes, thus they cannot be paid the N$1.5 million.
The NPC president also complained that the federation is always treated unfairly, compared to other federations run by ablebodied persons.
“You cannot compare athletes with disabilities to those who are able. Since we took office in 2015, there was never a time that the ministry gave us money not to recognise the NPL and its rules, further explaining that the NSC’s decision to reject the league’s application is a direct violation and contradiction of the Sport Act, the Namibian constitution and common law. In fact, the appeals committee also found that the NSC had illegally created the ‘registration and compliance committee’, which consisted of NSC workers and that such a committee was also not provided for in the Sport Act.
The appeals committee then proceeded to direct the NSC to register the NPL and all its rules within 14 days and those 14 days officially lapsed yesterday.
With no other legal avenues left to pursue and with outside without us running from office to office,” he expressed.
Litwayi stated that if it was not for the NamPower sponsorship that took the team to Dubai for the World Champs as well as to compete in the Athletics Namibia Grand Prix and the South African Championships, no athlete would have qualified for the Paralympic Games. The Paralympic team’s matters come at a time when corporate Namibia has pledged over N$6 million to Beatrice Masilingi and Christine Mboma before and after their exploits at the just-ended Olympic Games.Repeated efforts to get comment from the sports ministry proved futile. ‘friends’ now running thin, the NSC yesterday finally threw in the towel and officially rubber stamped the NPL as a sport body responsible for promoting, administering, controlling, governing and regulating all professional football in Namibia.
The NPL is set to secure international affiliation with the World League Forum (WLF), a body established to provide all forms of practical assistance to professional leagues around the world. The WLF has a cooperation agreement with Fifa signed in 2019 and the two bodies have since been working hand in glove to develop professional football worldwide.