Otniel Hembapu
Windhoek
MTC’s chief human capital and corporate affairs officer, Tim Ekandjo, yesterday heavily fumed over the negative attitude of some Namibians whenever a fellow countryman achieves something magnificent.
Ekandjo was speaking at yesterday’s press conference in the capital where Namibia’s newly crowned triple world champion, Julius ‘Blue Machine’ Indongo, officially met the local press and gave an account of Saturday’s historic victory over Scotsman Ricky Burns, which saw him unify the WBA, IBF and IBO world super lightweight titles.
With MTC being the principal sponsor of the renowned Nestor Sunshine Boxing & Fitness Academy, Ekandjo has over the past few years been a victim of various gambits aimed at discrediting his personality and social standing, with some armchair critics even going as far accusing him of receiving bribes from Nestor Tobias to make sure MTC continues backing his academy.
But having seriously taken note of the aforementioned accusations for some time now, Ekandjo yesterday reached boiling point and was breathing fire as he went on to label his detractors “enemies of progress and pure haters”.
Evidently very hot under the collar, Ekandjo hit back: “I have been hearing about rumours that I’m receiving bribes from Nestor and even on Saturday when we were in Scotland for the world title fight against Ricky Burns, some people were shamelessly asking what I’m doing in Scotland with Nestor and so forth. We, the Namibian black community, have a serious problem with ourselves because all that we want to do is bring each other down, instead of helping and supporting each other … It’s very sad really.”
“It’s time we stop this childish behaviour of always hating people that are doing great things for the country and start supporting each other as blacks. Yes, I’m deliberately referring to the black community because it’s the truth. Here we are today, instead of celebrating our newly-crowned triple world champion Indongo as a country, we are rather focused on wanting to know what I was doing in Scotland with Nestor, or if I maybe received a bribe in Scotland from Nestor. Let’s stop with that negativity. To all those that are wasting their time gossiping about me, I have two words: I say it’s time to grow up and start doing something great for Namibia,” blasted Ekandjo.
As a parting jab, Ekandjo – who is widely admired for his personal stance on local sport development as can be attested by the Harders Cup he recently solely hosted at his hometown Lüderitz – cautioned that if Namibian athletes are to excel at global level, Namibians should start supporting each other and individuals that are working hard to put the country’s name on the world map, instead of hating and trying to discredit citizens doing something for the country.