Carlos Kambaekwa/
Maurice Kambukwe
WINDHOEK – In a new twist of events, former Namibia Football Association (NFA) honcho Frans Mbidi has thrown his name in the hat and counts amongst a list of ten nominees for the NFA plum seat.
Fellow members mysteriously ousted the northern businessman from Football House, and although the world’s governing football body, Fifa, nullified the move, the Namibia Sport Commission (NSC), in conjunction with Fifa, later dissolved the entire NFA executive.
Other notable nominees are former NPL chairman Johnny ‘JJD’ Doeseb, tailed by his successor Patrick Kauta, Ranga Haikali, Hendrik Dawids, Mpasi Haingura, Cassius Moetie, Dr Naftal Ngalangi, Mabos Vries, Kenneth !Goaseb and southern representative Izak Fredericks.
This identity of the listed candidates was revealed by the by NFA on Wednesday this week.
NFA has been functioning without a president since October 2018 when former president Frans Mbidi was “illegally” bundled out of office by his executive, following a prolonged dispute over the proposed renewal of former Secretary-General Barry Rukoro.
Mbidi was keen to see the back of his long-serving soldier man but the executive would have none of that.
This led to the unavoidable intervention of the World’s football governing body, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association FIFA.
The latter summarily replaced the executive with its handpicked NFA Normalisation Committee (NC) under the stewardship of prominent business personality Hilda Basson-Namundjebo.
Meanwhile, New Era Sport has established that all candidates will be subjected to an integrity check to determine their suitability for the plum NFA position.
The much anticipated 28th NFA Ordinary Elective Congress is slated for 22 February 2020 at a yet to be announced venue and town.
Though the NFA presidential position is voluntary without fixed remuneration, candidates are generally enticed by the lucrative perks that come along holding such a high-profile position.
It is believed the stakes are handsomely high when members hit the skies trotting around the globe to attend Fifa gatherings internationally.
Outspoken football commentator Hendrik Christian expressed reservations with the majority of the nominated presidential candidates, adding there are probably only two or three candidates who possess the requirement to vie for the NFA plum position.
“The majority of those candidates have been in football structures for many years and I don’t see what tangible changes they will effect in our football,” he charged. “Our Achilles heel has been the nauseating recycling of the same old faces time and again – and until such time we address this cancer, we are bound to fail for the umpteenth time. To make matters even worse, we are always saddled with blokes who have very little understanding of football administration – some of them were coaches and never served in any administrative positions before landing crucial posts in the top echelons of the football’s highest umbrella body.”
In the meantime, some of the potential candidates could hit a break wall as article 25 (1) in the Namibian Sport Act of 2003 clearly states that: A person may not hold office or as a member of the executive organ of the umbrella body (a) for a period exceeding ten years in aggregate (111) or an unrehabilitated insolvent.