The Namibia Schools Sport Union (NSSU) on Wednesday suspended its long-serving national coordinator Solly Duiker for an indefinite period, following serious allegations of financial misappropriation, providing false information and forging signatures.
The allegations stem from Team Namibia’s failed trip to Potchefstroom, South Africa, where the country was to partake in so-called Cosassa Games, which actually never took place and were never organised in that country to start with.
The NSSU board revealed on Wednesday that government spent over N$430 000 on the botched trip, which saw Duiker leading a group of 260 athletes to an empty stadium in South Africa, where no competition was happening.
As much as I applaud the NSSU board for cracking the whip on Duiker, I am quite disappointed with how this entire episode unfolded and how such a trip was even sanctioned in the first place. Duiker’s blunder points to the malfunctioning processes and systems within the local sporting fraternity.
For Duiker and fellow officials to take a delegation of 260 athletes and convince government through the NSSU to fork out a mammoth N$430 000 for a non-existing competition is really beyond comprehension.
This is a blunder of serious monumental proportions and a huge embarrassment to the entire nation, specifically the sports ministry and the NSSU board. If our checks and balances were in place and well intact, someone somewhere should have picked up that the Cosassa Games trip was a sham and could have saved taxpayers an entire N$430 000.
To be quite honest, our local sports fraternity is one sector that is very ‘unregulated’ and many a time goes unchecked by the relevant authorities. Several local sports administrators continue to steal millions of dollars through crooked trips and inflated projects, but nothing happens to them as no one holds them accountable.
Sadly, many Namibians are still under the illusion that there is no serious money in local sport and that sport is just a leisure activity, but many of these long-serving administrators at most of our federations have found their way around the government kitty and have since developed various schemes to enrich themselves through all sorts of dubious means.
It is high time the sports ministry tightens its checks and balances, and even move a step further by opening criminal cases against administrators who are found stealing from taxpayers and those who continue to rob our athletes of opportunities.
Nevertheless, kudos to the NSSU board for acting swiftly against Duiker and for restoring some faith in the schools’ sport union, whose integrity and relevance have for some time now been at an all-time low.
It’s high time for the sports ministry to tighten its internal monitoring processes and systems in order to combat fraudulent acts and bring culprits to book. Until next time, sharp sharp!!