Hesron Kapanga

The president of the Namibia Football Association, Robert Shimooshili, has stated that his vice president, Murs Markus, is not making any decisions about Black Africa in his capacity as an NFA executive council member.

Instead, Markus is utilising his role as the chairperson of the Southern Stream First Division in making those decisions.

Katutura-based Black Africa Sport Club has been unable to fulfil its fixtures since the beginning of the 2023/24 Southern Stream First Division in November this year due to protests by disgruntled fans of the club.

The protests were caused by the club having two administrations who are fielding two teams, both claiming to represent Black Africa, which led to some Black Africa fans taking to the field to stage a sit-in to prevent a match from taking place until their concerns were addressed.

Shimooshili, in an interview with Nampa, said the Black Africa issue is outside of the jurisdiction of the NFA and, therefore, cannot be interfered with by the NFA Executive Council.

“The FA is not allowed to address the issue of Black Africa as it concerns the Southern Stream First Division, which is our member. The stream leaders have the authority to resolve its members’ matters without interference from anybody,” he said.

He added that Black Africa’s leadership should also sort out their misunderstandings, as this is a team with a rich history.

Shimooshili also stated that Markus must step down from his position of the Southern Stream and focus on his position as the NFA vice president.

“Murs (Markus) needs to relinquish that position, but it will take time, as it is a process. I just relinquished my position as chairperson of the Namibia Premier Football League and Blue Waters to avoid conflict of interest. I, therefore, hope he will also do so as soon as possible so that decisions that are taken in that stream are not viewed as those of the NFA,” Shimooshili said.

He further said that what currently needs to happen is that all individuals, including himself, must attend to Black Africa’s issues as a matter of urgency, as this matter does not reflect well on Namibian football.

“This is not the peace and harmony we spoke about. Blue Waters, Citizens and Eleven Arrows also had divisions, but those matters were resolved. The NFA will soon issue a statement to distance themselves from decisions taken in the Southern Stream First Division because we don’t want to do things outside the statutes that will affect us,” said Shimooshili. 

– Nampa