Otniel Hembapu
Windhoek
Veteran rugby administrator and Western Suburbs Rugby Club president Corrie Mensah was Saturday elected as the new president of the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) during the union’s annual general meeting (AGM) held in the capital on Saturday.
Mensah replaces prominent lawyer Bradley Basson, who took over as NRU president in 2012 and was again reelected unopposed in 2016.
Also at Saturday’s meeting, a new executive committee was elected and saw Etienne Coetzee elected as vice-president for Governance; Ivan Gaya vice-president for Rugby; Jacky Husselman (Referees); Abie van Wyk (Namibia Secondary Schools Rugby); Werner Jeffery (Tertiary Institutes Sports Association of Namibia); Corné Powell (Namibia Rugby Players Association), Johan Ockhuizen, James Camm, Edwin Coetzee, David van Kradenburg and Chandler Plato (all regional representatives).
The new executive will steer the NRU ship for the next five years and will be working hand in glove with the union’s newly established commercial arm Namibia Rugby Ltd, which is a Section 21 (not for profit) company created to ensure financial and commercial viability of the NRU.
Namibia Rugby Ltd, which also looks after the financial and technical well-being of all national teams, Under 20s and the national Sevens as well as the domestic leagues, is headed by Mervin Green.