Africa-Press – Namibia. Sport codes that already have a substantive sponsor to run their individual leagues will not benefit from the N$50 million allocated to the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC), says chief administrator Freddy Mwiya.
This means popular codes like football, netball, cricket, volleyball and rugby leagues will in all likelihood miss out on the funds.
Speaking to Desert FM, Mwiya said the N$50 million forms part of the initial N$93 million budget proposal submitted to the treasury last year.
“The N$93 million budget in its totality covers the NSC operations, federation’s support and international engagement,” he said.
“We are very happy that we have been prioritised as a sport sector. We’ve asked the federations to work and come up with a modality to be submitted by Friday.”
“The NSC will then compile the recommendations from the stakeholders and, thereafter, we will have a meeting with the directorate of sport on the recommendations submitted,” Mwiya said.
He added that federations were requested to motivate how the funds should be utilised during last week’s meet-and-greet session with the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture hierarchy.
“We asked them to come with the modality on how we will be able to ensure that every federation receives a piece from that,” Mwiya said.
He said there are sport codes with regional and national leagues that have no substantive sponsors, adding that the notion that some are more important than others should be done away with.
“All Namibian sport codes add value and there is no bigger sport code than the other,” stressed Mwiya.
During the meet-and-greet session, minister of education, innovation, youth, sport, arts and culture Sanet Steenkamp stressed the need for clearly defined mandates, greater accountability, and improved collaboration between sport bodies.
“Avoiding duplication of functions and strengthening coordination are essential for achieving results and upholding institutional integrity,” said Steenkamp, who urged administrators to “put athletes first”.
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