Maqonda Ndlovu
The Namibia Hockey Union (NHU) on Tuesday announced the appointment of men’s and women’s national team coaches for the next three years to spearhead the development and success
of hockey in Namibia across different formats.
The newly-appointed National Coaches are Trevor Cormack for the Indoor Hockey Men’s team and Shayne Cormack for the Indoor Hockey Women’s team.
For the Men’s Outdoor team, Johan Weyhe will be in charge, while Sedtric Makati is taking charge of Hockey 5’s Women’s
team.
The appointment of the Cormacks for the men’s and women’s indoor teams has raised eyebrows, with insiders questioning the choice of husband and wife to lead the teams.
“The appointment of the two raises a stink; why and how did they do that? This is borderline corruption. It must be investigated. It is morally wrong,” the insider, who chose to remain anonymous, questioned.
The NHU responded to this by saying the two appointments were based solely on their merits, qualifications and alignment with the vision and objectives of the NHU.
“The NHU constitution, a foundational document guiding the governance of the NHU, outlines the procedures for appointing coaches and selecting
members for national teams.The constitution is designed to uphold principles of fairness, transparency and merit-based selection,” said Tunomwaameni Epafras, the communication and marketing executive of NHU.
He added that the executive committee of NHU diligently adhered to the procedures laid out in the constitution throughout the selection process.
“From a legal perspective, as long as the appointments were conducted in compliance with the NHU constitution and its guidelines, there is no inherent moral unacceptability in a married couple concurrently serving as coaches for the respective teams. The NHU governance architecture, with its guiding principles and prescribed processes, ensures a fair and objective selection of coaches and players,” he explained.
He said this reinforces the commitment of the NHU to maintain a professional and ethical approach to managing its national teams and nurturing the growth of hockey in Namibia.
Furthermore, the independence and autonomy of each coach within their respective teams, as dictated by NHU guidelines, ensures there will be no interference or conflict of interest in their coaching roles, Epafras said.
The Namibia Sports Commission chief administrator, Simataa Freddy Mwiya, said he was not aware of the appointments but raised the issue of governance, saying such appointments are usually questionable.
“We will reach out to them and find out their selection procedures. They must have valid reasons to motivate the appointments. These reasons must be able to explain how they arrived at such a decision. The Sports Act is clear on the composition of the national teams,” Mwiya said.