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When money and public standing determine your status
2016-06-24Staff Report 2 Call me a troublesome fellow or whatever you prefer, but yours truly is a damn strong believer in the old adage of “watching and waiting is torture.” In the beautiful game of football, penalty takers only plant the ball one third of the time through the middle of the goal, one third of the time at the right side, while the same tactic is also applied to the left side of the goal. Shot stoppers are fully aware of this scenario but would always either dive to the right or the left side and barely remain static in the middle, notwithstanding the fact that roughly a third of the ball would land there. But why would they jeopardize saving these spot kicks? The response is all about appearance. It looks more impressive and feels less embarrassing to dive the wrong way than to freeze on the spot watching the ball sail past them. In short, this is what is called the action bias - look active even if it achieves nothing. Yours truly has deliberately chosen the above preamble to interrogate and make comparisons with the shoddy manner in which certain sports conduct their business. The fragile outdated constitution on which the racist Cricket Namibia (CN) is paddling must be exposed with the might it deserves as it contains rules and by-laws that are totally out of sync with national unity and reconciliation. A constitution should never be defined in such a way that it befits certain individuals at the expense of others. Incumbent Namibian President Dr Hage Geingob’s motto is crystal clear that nobody should feel left out. Can we imagine our designated lawmakers coming up with a constitution that defines votes measured against the size of one’s deep pockets? For instance, if one happened to live in the informal settlements of Havana and Freedom Land you will have one vote, with the middle-class citizens residing in Khomasdal and Katutura allowed two votes, while affluent citizens residing in the posh residential areas of Ludwigsdorf, Kleine Kuppe and Klein Windhoek get three votes. Well, this is the exact scenario at Cricket Namibia and please don’t ask me why, but for some strange reasons affiliates don’t enjoy the same benefits. The nauseating constitution has been deliberately designed in such a way that it only benefits a small certain portion of society, leaving the previously disadvantaged and still marginalized masses to fend for themselves. To put it simply, those cricket clubs who do not own lawn pitches or more entries into the national league structures have less votes than their more affluent counterparts. This reminds yours truly of somebody who brutally kills your parents and starts blaming you for being an orphan. The buck stops with the toothless Namibia Sports Commission. It’s incumbent upon the designated commissioners to thoroughly study and interrogate the constitutions and statutes of all its affiliates to see whether they are in harmony with the national constitution if they are to transform Namibian sports to the good. I rest my case. 2016-06-24Staff Report 2
