IT has never been yours truly’s beat to challenge and react to articles written and published by fellow scribes, but the recent article that appeared in the Namsports monthly publication, under the shocking headline “Hereros can’t play football” calls for a firm and unequivocal rebuttal.
Often we speak about the need to understand each other, but the utterances attributed to my old buddy Hendrik Christians cannot be justified blindly and can therefore not be left unchallenged. The claim that the Hereros are destroying Namibian football is a far-fetched distortion of reality and completely irrelevant and uncalled for. What is clear and extremely dangerous in this respect is when people start using personal vendettas to settle old scores without disguising their cancerous tribal predilections. My own understanding and personal knowledge is that Bra Chris has always joked about the Hereros’ apparent inability to shackle the spherical object with a semblance of virtuosity, but nothing more and it has always been a source of good humour for those who cared to listen to him, because he never really meant it.
When I read the damn article the first thing that flashed through my mind was to scrutinize the author’s genuine intentions and what he was hiding under the rug. For starters, many of you would scorn to own me in a lie, but the truth is that tribalism is a word that does not exist in my vocabulary and for mature people to start using tribalism as a stratagem to achieve their misplaced ambitions is uncalled for and tantamount to hate speech.
This unprovoked utterance is not only a personal attack on the integrity of John Muinjo and his so-called henchmen, but a direct insult to all Otjiherero speaking citizens of this peaceful nation. Can we imagine the consequences of those words had a white man uttered them in reference to a black person?
First point of correction. John Muinjo is not the only former referee, who became president of a football association and Kirsten Nematandani was never a referee in his life as referred to in the article. He was an administrator in the referees department of the South African Football Association (Safa). The following retired international referees became presidents of their respective football associations – Tabah Ganesh – president: Nepal FA, Celestine Mbangauira – president: Rwanda FA, Patrice Ntuingene – president: CAR FA, Muhammed Hussein – president: Djibouti FA and the late Major Lampty – president: Ghana FA.
Second point of correction. The claim that African Stars has always tiptoed to Orlando Pirates to source playing personnel is also devoid of any truth. Unlike many clubs with the exception of Black Africa and Eleven Arrows, African Stars has always embraced other tribes in their teams unconditionally as can be attested by the numerous footballers that invaded the Reds nest from the Garden Town (Okahandja). Apart from Doc Naobeb who had a brief spell with Ramblers (Katutura), the likes of George Gariseb, Timo Goagoseb, Zambia Khoeseb and Edu Mungunda all started playing competitive football in the topflight league with Stars. Without going into the nitty-gritties, it should be noted that footballers in the mould of Kaika Kuzee, Oscar Mengo, Danger Siririka, Floyd Maharero, George Hoveka, Black Kangootui, Kaputji Kuhanga, Amos Tjombe, Ben Kauejao, Oscar Norich, Ace Tjirera, Asser Mbai, Immanuel Kamuserandu, Albert Tjihero, Mannetjie Tjikune, Ndjiva Kauami, Kauru Bilhawer, Munjanda Muaine, Juku Tjazuko, Congo Hindjou and Bimbo Tjihero to name but a few, were highly gifted athletes and influential footballers in their heyday.
An apology is in order.
I rest my case.