Maurice Kambukwe

WINDHOEK – Victor Hamunyela, a member of Civics Football Club serving on the Namibia Premier League (NPL) executive committee, yesterday insisted that he remains an executive member of the league and that his club is equally part of the NPL, despite the league having recently pronounced itself differently.

Addressing the media and the public at a well-attended presser at Football House yesterday, Hamunyela dismissed the NPL’s position that he can no longer serve on the league’s executive committee because his club Civics – on whose ticket he was serving – was relegated last season and that automatically led to him forfeiting his spot on the executive committee.

Hamunyela said the local football governing body, the Namibia Football Association (NFA), already took a decision with the blessing of Fifa that no promotions or relegation would be applied for last season and that the likes of Civics, Orlando Pirates, should be reinstated into the NPL and made part of the new 2019/20 season. Demoted Young African’s fate will be decided through an Appeals Committee decision.

By virtue of the NFA decision, Hamunyela believes there should be no ambiguity whatsoever as far as his position of NPL executive member and that of his club Civics goes, adding that until the NFA pronounces itself otherwise, his position and that of Civics will remain.

Regarding the league’s recent decision to declare a dispute with the NFA and citing the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) as one of the respondents to their notice, Hamunyela distanced himself from such a decision, saying the decision was not made by the entire executive but by the NPL chairman Patrick Kauta and a few other members who collaborated with Kauta. 

“Of late I have observed with grave concern the development in the NPL exco of which I am still a legitimate member. On the 15th of July, I read a newspaper article that the NPL had declared a dispute with the NFA, citing the sport commission as a respondent. On the 31st July at 13h45, I posted on the NPL exco WhatsApp group, from which I was removed unceremoniously on 13/08/19, to ask as to why was it decided that that we will lodge a dispute. The chairperson Kauta replied it’s unfortunately not true Victor. You were excluded from the telephonic consultation of the exco because of your obvious conflict of interest.’”

He added: “On the 3rd of August a posted another question on NPL exco group alerting to raise concerns that the NPL, NFA doesn’t make provision to refer dispute to sport commission, which is the case but to date no one replied. On the 10th of August I wrote a text to the members of the exco to indicate my inability to attend the meeting scheduled as I was still in the north.”

“Kauta responded by saying thank you for alerting us Victor. We appreciate your commitment to the cause and the situation you find yourself in. The secretary bought a small gift for you as a token of appreciation of your service at exco. The constitution imperatives are clear but exco had requested that you attend today’s meeting out of courtesy at 09h30. You can already sense that somebody, somewhere has already decided on what’s the next step; perhaps his own powers as to where it’s emanating from, one does not know. I openly announce that I am not party to such actions of the NPL to declare dispute against legitimate. That I victor Hamunyela remain a member of the NPL exco as the decision not to relegate any teams in the three leagues is final in accordance with the statues of both NPL and NFA due to current circumstances,” said Hamunyela.

According to Hamunyela, he believes the time has come for Kauta to relinquish his position as his stay will put the league’s image in disrepute.  “I humbly request you to resign, as you have caused divisions within the NPL and overall you have no mandate from the second highest decision making.”

Meanwhile, another press conference by eight member clubs of the NPL also took place at the same venue, where the eight aggrieved clubs also distanced themselves from the recent NPL’s decision to declare a dispute with the NFA.

“As members of the NPL Board of Governors, we have put it on record that as members we were not consulted and it was done ultra vires by the Executive Committee,” Nicky Kasilipile, spokesperson of eight clubs, said.

The eight teams that opposed the NPL exco’s decision are Tigers, Citizens, Civics, Black Africa, Mighty Gunners, Orlando Pirates, Young African and Julinho Sporting