INVESTING in school sports and infrastructure will greatly enhance the country’s sports portfolio, say ex-national sports director Vetumbuavi Veii and sports analyst Isack Hamata.
These are the most pertinent factors holding Namibian sports back, they say.
Namibia’s poor sports infrastructure is down to unnecessary red tape, while neglecting to invest in school sports means the country misses out on early talent identification and grooming, which results in substandard senior athletes, they say.
In a recent interview with The Namibian Sports regarding the country’s progress since independence, Veii said not enough had been done to turn Namibian athletes into world champions.
Namibia has a shortage of sports arenas, and none of the available structures are of world-class standard.
This compromises the quality of preparing for performances, he said.
Construction projects are either progressing at a snail’s pace or have come to a standstill, while others are still to get off the ground, said Veii.
The situation is so dire that the Brave Warriors face the prospect of hosting all their 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifying home matches abroad unless the shortcomings at Sam Nujoma Stadium and Independence Stadium in Windhoek are urgently addressed.
“If you look at a sports facility like the one in the Ohangwena region, we started that two years before I went on retirement [in 2015]. I have been retired for five years, but up to now that facility has not been finalised,” said Veii, who was the national sports director in 1990.
“We could have built a lot of sports facilities if we were following the right process,” he said.
“The problem I have is, you give phase one to a certain company. They do phase one, are paid and are gone. Then you give phase two to another company. By the time you gave them that tender two or three years later, the phase one work becomes a white elephant and things are vandalised in the meantime.
“The new company finds fault with the work done by the previous one. So, now you have to pay this new company to rectify the so-called shortcomings before they start with their phase,” Veii said.
“Why not give the tender to just one company? That way, if there are problems, we know who is liable,” he said.
“I keep saying sport can create employment in this country. Even if we have a Chinese company sponsoring us for the construction of a facility, why can we not have our people providing the labour?”
Comprehensive setup
The same narrow-minded bureaucracy repeatedly fails to comprehend the socio-economic value of sports, Veii and Hamata argued.
“Namibians must be commended for their perseverance. Without committed support from the government and corporate sector, every village and town in the country has been able to have some sort of sports activity over the past 30 years. Imagine if that energy was supported with a proper budget,” Hamata said.
He believes the authorities should consider including sports in the conventional school curriculum.
“We must go back to the days when sports was entrenched in the school system. Schools produced top-quality athletes,” Hamata said.
“There was a gradual process of promotion from lower to premier league levels. It produced exceptional talent and leagues were very competitive because they were being fed with good talent. We must go back there,” he said.
Veii added the country would reap rich rewards with a comprehensive sports set-up and government backing.
“If we significantly invest in grass-roots level sports, some of them will make it to professional sports and reinvest in their people. Others will pick up other values like discipline and hard work, which they can apply elsewhere in life,” Veii said.
Empirical evidence
Government must play a more active role in making sports a formidable contributor to national development, Hamata said.
“A person who has failed Grade 10 or 12 should be able to earn a living by doing sport and not be sent to the streets,” he said.
The sporting industry is an integral component of the developed world, said Veii.
“Sport, like arts, is an industry which can contribute a great deal to health, tourism, education and other professions. For example, research has proven that for every N$10 you invest in sports, you save N$100 on your national health bill. But that understanding is lacking in this country,” Veii said.
“If you look at a young man like Collin Benjamin, how much is he contributing to the socio-economy of Namibia through his football project? He is a product of sports, which continues to yield results for his nation.”
