WINDHOEK
Following months of endless boardroom wrangles that saw four senior members of the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) hastily tender their resignations, the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) has finally stepped in to mediate the ongoing fracas at the Hage Geingob Stadium, on orders of the line ministry.
Although details remain sketchy, an inside source yesterday reliably informed New Era Sport that four clubs plying their trade in the national rugby premiership wrote an open letter to the Sports Directorate in the Ministry of Youth, Sport and National Service in which they outlined a string of damaging allegations against the NRU hierarchy.
Having received the letter, the Sports Directorate took serious note of the complaints and immediately tasked the NSC to launch a thorough investigation into the unpleasant affairs of the NRU, which prompted the resignation of the four members as well as the letter written by the clubs.
The four members that resigned are Corrie Mensah (NRU vice-president), Elmo Kurz, David van Kradenburg and Marcelino Dentlinger, who were all executive members at the time.
NRU Chief Executive Officer Sybrand de Beer yesterday confirmed that they would have a meeting today with members of the NSC and representatives from the line ministry.
“Yes, I can confirm that we will be having a meeting today with the NSC, where we will be joined by representatives from the four clubs that wrote the letter to the ministry. Since the NSC was tasked by the line ministry to investigate us, the meeting will purely look at the resignation of the four members and map out the way forward. We will also inform the NSC about the happenings at the union with regard to the allegations levelled against the NRU leadership,” said De Beer.
“Unfortunately, I cannot go into details and tell you what the clubs’ complaints are or why the four members resigned because we are having a meeting today that’s why I feel it will be very premature to do such a thing. But obviously after the meeting, we will be at liberty to share the outcome of the meeting with the media.”
Meanwhile, on Friday the NRU dominated headlines following the unceremonious resignation of national team head coach team, Danie Vermeulen, who stepped down from his position with immediate effect. The wheelchair-bound mentor has been in charge of the Welwitschias since 2012.
Vermeulen’s resignation came less than three months before Namibia kicks off their World Cup campaign against New Zealand on September 24 in London. However, the NRU has reiterated that Vermeulen’s resignation would not affect Namibia’s preparations as a strong and experienced coaching structure was already in place.
Though the players are likely to miss Vermeulen’s input and experience, the NRU president expressed confidence saying their campaign is on track. Vermeulen will be replaced by Phil Davies, who was the technical advisor.