… Nashilongo stands his ground, but accused of taking sides
Carlos Kambaekwa
Windhoek
In the latest twist of events threatening the immediate future of the beautiful game of football, it has emerged that MTC chairman Elvis Nashilongo and its head of corporate affairs and spokesperson Tim Ekandjo are cruising towards a head-on collision.
The two appear to entertain different interpretations of the overall process of the marathon negotiations between MTC and football bosses with the legality of the newly appointed NFA ad hoc committee having been placed under the microscope.
In a communication shared with New Era Sport, Ekandjo responded to a letter from NPL acting chief administrator Tovey Hoebeb that MTC has no objection to the NFA signing the sponsorship agreement on behalf of the NPL since it wants league activities to start on the newly proposed date of June 12.
Ekandjo advised Hoebeb that the NPL speedily gives feedback on any outstanding issues to ensure finalization of the sponsorship agreement.
But contrary to Ekandjo’s directives MTC chairman Elvis Nashilongo hit back through his own email, telling NPL in no uncertain terms where to get off and keep MTC out of football and its politics.
“Kindly keep us outside of official correspondence, it may be of interest for you to note that MTC board’s resolution on NPL sponsorship directed management to deal with the Interim Committee, which allegedly has now been annulled,” reads the memo verbatim.
Nashilongo further states that MTC management has no mandate to engage with the NFA on sponsorship for obvious reasons.
However, his comments are interpreted to be contrary to a commitment he made at State House in the presence of the Namibian head of state Dr Hage Geingob, that MTC is now back on board.
Football analysts accuse Nashilongo of taking sides. “You cannot commit to sponsor only on condition that an illegitimate body of leaders run it – then it means your interest is not in football but in certain individuals,” commented a well-known football official.
“I’ve never seen a chairperson of a board getting involved in operational matters. We have been dealing with MTC for many years and never experienced or witnessed such blatant interference from a board member who clearly doesn’t seem to understand his mandate,” charged another source, who declined that his identity be revealed for fear of reprisal.
Another football pundit opined that its now crystal clear that Nashilongo has been captured and is now conveniently using MTC’s name to settle personal scores with some blokes at the negotiation table, “which is quite unfortunate”.
Well, while the drama unfolds the game of football continues to suffer with the real McCoys of the game, the players, subjected to all kinds of nauseating emotional and physical stress trying to keep hunger at bay, while the men in blue suits sit pretty.