Otniel Hembapu
Windhoek-Namibia’s veteran Paralympics swimmer, Gideon Nasilowski, was elected as new president of Disability Sport Namibia (DSN) at the federation’s recent annual general meeting held in the capital.
Alongside Nasilowski, the gathering also elected Abner Sheya as vice-president and Michael Hamukwaya as new the secretary-general. Peter Uushona is the new treasurer, while Sylvia Bathlomeus from the Namibian National Association of the Deaf (NNAD) and Ananias Shikongo from the Namibia Paralympic Committee (NPC) were elected as athletes’ representatives on the new board.
Nasilowski replaces Charles Nyambe, who resigned earlier this year. According the meeting’s minutes, seen by New Era Sport, the new board resolved to terminate the membership of Special Olympics Namibia (SON), which was also affiliated to DSN along with NPC and NNAD.
SON was earlier this year stripped of its license by its mother-body, Special Olympics International, due to alleged misappropriation of funds, maladministration and lack of supporting financial documents, among other issues.
SON board members were not invited to the AGM, which was only attended by NNAD and NPC members, with DSN indicating that they saw it fit not to involve SON in their affairs for the time being until SON has sorted out all unresolved issues with Special Olympics International.
The AGM also resolved that SON’s position on the DSN board would remain vacant until such time they are fully restored as an organisation.
In an interview with Nampa, Nasilowski said: “We have NPC under our body and the deaf, who will be affected if our sponsors withdraw, because of the issues being reported about SON. So, we needed to distance ourselves from SON until order prevails that side.”
The president also said the decision to terminate SON’s membership was endorsed by the Namibia Sports Commission. Nasilowski added that for as long as SON is suspended by their umbrella international body, they will not be part of DSN.