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Home / An apple of discord, fishing in troubled waters
An apple of discord, fishing in troubled waters
2018-06-15Staff Report 2 Yours truly has come to realise that if you are not enjoying yourself, then what are you doing? If there is no entertainment value in your work than there really is no point in doing it – one can probably get enough from the monthly social grant benefit to survive. Obviously, there are awful blokes out there who enjoy slaving but are frightened to admit in case they get accused of being workaholics or sad or something. We should take pride in what we are doing and enjoy the challenges that come along with our functions. The trade of journalism is constantly and aggressively testing one’s mettle where you are likely going to stumble upon people occupied with that sort of “us and them attitude”. Or let me rather put it in simple layman lingo, “if you are not for me than you are against me”, the kind of black and white thinking. When you are passionate about your job with exude confidence and energy, it’s not primarily about how you satisfy all your readers but how you articulate your message for consumers to make their own judgment. Yours truly has been getting stick from football officials and their foul mouth sidekicks for daring to have the courage to publish a damning report about the country’s football governing body, the Namibia Football Association NFA financial operations. I think the principal issue that is being overlooked here is the handling of cash transactions, nothing more, nothing less. As it stands, there remain more questions than answers, was there any investigation effected to determine as to whether the money was used for the intended purposes or misappropriated?. Even if the money was used for the intended projects, the applied methodology is hopelessly outdated and invites suspicion whilst it’s also very much against the spirit of national laws on financial management, which needs to be strictly enforced at all times. In conclusion, I find it laughable and a heavy blow below the belt, that the NFA Accounting Officer has resolved to shift the goalposts by linking my persona to these unfolding revelations implying that I have also benefited from these transactions when accompanying the national team to Ghana, just because the Association footed my traveling bill. HELLO !!! The bone of contention here is not about the recipients - it seeks to tackle the outdated practice of issuing large cash payments to service providers or staff members for whatever projects to be executed. Kudos to bro Mansie and his victorious “Desert Jewels” Let me take this opportunity to congratulate our national senior netball team, the “Desert Jewels” in particular the technical staff under the stewardship of my old buddy Mansie Tjivera for defying the odds by winning the annual Debmarine Namibia Senior Netball Pent Series hands down. Truth be told, nobody including the author gave the hosts the slightest chance to come out unscathed from the four-nation regional tourney. I was privileged to watch “Mansie’s Babes” in their opening match against Botswana and from what I saw – Namibian netball is certainly back on the right track and will not be long before we reclaim our rightful place, amongst the finest netball playing nations on the world stage. Nonetheless, for the sake of continuity, those in charge of the ladies game must put their shoulder to the wheel and ensure that all regional leagues are up and running, if we are to have a justified demographic representation – going forward. I rest my case. 2018-06-15Staff Report 2
