Truth be told, yours truly has never been one to shy away from the battleground and has always been prepared to roll with the punches whenever circumstances dictated.
The quagmire in which Namibian sport currently finds itself, let’s say in a web of uncertainty, should not be dismissed as a normal fluctuation that must just be forgotten and left to gather dust elsewhere.
Our lawmakers have been living under this misplaced illusion that sport is secondary to more pressing issues and challenges in the face of eradicating unemployment and poverty. This particular practice is the basis of confirmation bias – albeit a harmless form of it.
The confirmation bias is the Zallie (mother) of all misconceptions, the tendency to interpret new information so that it becomes compatible with existing theories, beliefs and convictions, ag sies tog!!.
My dear readers, please pardon my ignorance but my sincere understanding is that facts do not cease to exist because they are deliberately ignored.
Could the author then be faulted and subsequently crucified for concluding that the entire Namibian sport is cruising at an alarming pace towards becoming a delicacy for stray dogs? I’m just asking.
Needless to remind you that the overall budget for all sports is laughable and not even worth the wording budget – it’s a pittance or rather just a drop in the giant Atlantic Ocean as our portfolio Minister Hon. Jerry Ekandjo put it boldly when the final budget was allocated.
Yours truly has been following with keen interest recent unfolding events in China, where the Chinese are going for broke to popularize the beautiful game of football through an aggressive drive to lure the world’s finest footballers to their newly found love nest.
Sport, football in particular, is a massive industry that needs to be treated with utmost respect and handled with care.
How many times do we hear from government officials, when addressing public gatherings, about how sport is able to unite divided communities including the important role it plays to heal old wounds – let alone creating the desired platform by creating employment for the youth.
Is it perhaps not time for those in leading positions to start paying more attention to body service, than the worn-out lip service so frequently and loosely paraded at august gatherings, to their genuine intentions if there are any? I’m just asking.
China has identified football as the ultimate tool to popularize its market by offering astronomical signing-on and transfer fees to the world’s finest footballers in an effort to lure them to the promised land of milk and honey.
Just the day before yesterday, there was an article that Argentinean international Gonzalo Higuain declined an offer of U$800, 000 per week to play in the Chinese Premiership.
The only solution to save Namibian sport from becoming a delicacy for stray dogs is for our lawmakers to come up with comprehensive laws and regulations that would regulate companies’ social responsibilities.
Massive profit-making corporate businesses such as petroleum companies, fishing companies, mines and many other foreign companies with operations in Namibia should be compelled to pump money into the development of sport.
If well-managed and properly structured, such a practice would assist the government with its drive to eradicate crime, poverty and unemployment.
The time is now ripe for those entrusted to govern our economy and natural resources to start directing the profits towards the needy inhabitants of the country.
Let those in charge introduce without further delay hard and fast rules that would compel companies to arrest the declining slippery slope journey of Namibian sport. I rest my case.