Shooting From The Hip ! Carlos Kambaekwa Some moegoes are still chained to the old idea that whatever is touched by darkies would be doomed to failure, and I certainly reserve the right as a confirmed individual to retaliate and reject this fallacy as an absolute piece of kak!!. Just because one extremely thick-hide dude going by the name of Alpha aka Barry White is in the habit of going about his business anti-clockwise, does not really qualify all darkies to be labelled as bad planners. I’m not going to beat about the bush since I’ve also developed a fearless habit of calling a spade a spade, not a groot lepel or those little flashy names that usually give inappropriate authority to irrelevant people – Brrra B is slowly becoming a great liability to Namibian sport, and athletics in particular, but the brother is just too arrogant to realize that he has overstayed his welcome, if his presence was ever welcomed anyway. Knowing Brrra B from our kamashona days, I’ve come to respect the brother for his dogged perseverance and, while I’m genuinely not in the habit of nit-picking, I could just not resist the niggling doubts troubling the inner part of my tiny skull over the brother’s borderless perseverance in the face of all kind of difficulties. How on earth does a Sports Administrator of Alpha’s standing “obviously by default” just go into a summer slumber, only to wake up one morning armed with a volcanic list of provisional athletes (some of them well past their prime) to kamstig represent the country at the 9th edition of the All Africa Games in Algeria later this year? The Union has never had a decent competition over the last ten months but the gutsy Brrra B still has the pluck to announce a team without informing their respective clubs or regions over his eye-popping intention after missing the due date of 15th January, 2007. Come on, Alpha. Don’t rock the boat! The All Africa Games is an August event and needs to be treated accordingly. Athletes such as Lucketz Swartbooi and Elizabeth Monghundi are quite long in the tooth by now and have no business being on the fictitious list of medal hopefuls at the 9th All Africa Games in July. Mongundhi last represented Namibia a good five years back at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, and Swartbooi is on the wrong side of forty, unless there is a separate competition in the Marathon discipline for pensioners which some of us are not aware of. Let’s not forget Benedictus Botha’s self-imposed semi-retirement. Brrra B’s unending downfall appears to be spearheaded by his stern refusal to take heed from the common phrase “once bitten, twice shy” – as human beings we are obliged to pick up the pieces and learn from past mistakes, but Alpha is a different breed. The last time around, Brrra B and the Sports Commission got it totally wrong and almost scuppered Bertha Naigambo’s participation at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Some vindictive Commissioners ran around like headless chickens set loose, as they could not distinguish the qualification criteria of the Olympic Games from the less prestigious Commonwealth Games. As much as some of us try by all means to assist the forever fumbling athletic mentor (please don’t ask me how he wangled himself into the top pecking order of Athletics Namibia), he is the man in charge and very stingy in lending his somewhat over-sized ears to anybody, let alone some seasoned sport gurus who, unfortunately, happened to be of a skin pigmentation opposing his dark hide. If one happened to be a darkie adviser, the sharp-tongued Brrra B, who hails from the notorious Police Camp enclave, would easily resort to phrases such as “Ja, you guys are suffering from the colonial era because you’re ganging up with laanies. Come off it Brrra B. Surely it was not laanies who recommended the selection criteria for the All Africa Games – it was a collective decision taken by Africans, and Namibia is privy to that undertaking – whether you were there in person or not does not really matter because when you took over the reigns from Buddy Wentworth you became part and parcel of the liabilities as well. I’m putting my head on the block and partly blame the National Sport Commission for all these shenanigans going around in Athletics Namibia – it’s the very same Commission’s beat to ensure that all its affiliates act in compliance with the set standards as stipulated in the Namibian Sport Act of 2003. The due date for Accreditation regarding the number of participants is just around the corner, which is end of January, while the final date for the submission of athletes’ identities is set for the end of April 2007, and the Commission is still playing its customary game of wait-and-see. So, what does the Commission do?. They tried instead by all means to willy-nilly wrestle power from the ineffective Executive of Athletic Namibia until the timely intervention of Leonard Chuene. A well-meant solution – but this is totally outside the jurisdiction of your mandate: stick to the nitty-gritty of your functions which is to oversee that procedures are followed and affiliates are in compliance with the laws governing their togetherness. From another hip, being a diehard Kaizer Chiefs fan since the team’s inception in 1969, I was torn between loyalty and patriotism when the glamour boys met Jomo Cosmos in a tense South African Professional Soccer League clash last Sunday. I went on a white-knuckle-ride when I saw the Namibian duo of Sydney Plaatjies and Zico Paulus taking the field against Chiefs at the Harry Oppenheimer stadium. Plaatjies, who had a whale of a game at left back, opened the score with a powerful header from a well-taken corner kick and, believe you me, I was happy for him. And when the nervous-looking Zico made a costly blunder that led to Chiefs’ equalizer, I did not even bother to celebrate the goal as I was more concerned about the boy’s confidence and subsequent performance. However, the gangling youngster pulled himself up and played a blinder with some breathtaking point-blank saves from the dangerous Siyabonga Nkosi in the dying minutes. The end result: Cosmos 2 – Chiefs 1. I was obviously disappointed, but more than happy for our boys on their faultless display which could only trickle down to the progress of Namibian football. Hopefully, Ben Bamfuchile was watching as well.