National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) parliamentarian Vetaruhe Kandorozu has proposed a motion in parliament calling for a national sport levy to fund sport codes in Namibia.
Kandorozu yesterday told The Namibian this was in response to a contribution by Swapo parliamentarian Marius Sheya, who proposed a sport levy for the Namibia Premier League in the National Assembly on Wednesday.
“I have already given notice last month that I will be tabling a motion in parliament to introduce a sport levy to all private sectors and state-owned enterprises,” he said.
Kandorozu said the sport fund under the Namibia Sports Commission, created by the Sports Act no 12 of 2003, must be used to fund all sport codes in the country.
He proposes that companies contribute 1% of their annual profit to this fund.
“This motion will also discuss possible exemption of tax on either value added tax or income tax for the amount they have sponsored any related sport activities in Namibia with,” he said.
Kandorozu said the sport fraternity in the country has been hard hit by a lack of sponsorship since independence, leading to its absence in some international games.
This, he said, has affected many athletes negatively by being denied the opportunity to showcase their talents locally, regionally, and internationally.
Added to this, dilapidated sport facilities have led to sport codes not using them for accredited tournaments and competitions.
“I must applaud the finance and education ministries, because the premier league is kicking off on Friday, and we are struggling to get corporates on board.
“As we have the National Youth Development Fund, the Sports Act allows for a sport fund. I think it is high time that the private sector started contributing a sports levy,” Sheya said.
He said this would ensure the government does not have to beg for funds every year.
Sheya said this would assist the government in its plans to build more sport facilities.
The 2025/26 Namibia Football League season was scheduled to kick off on 1 September, but was postponed due to sponsorship challenges.
Debmarine and the Namibia Football Association (NFA) were involved in negotiations after a three-year sponsorship of N$50 million came to an end, with Debmarine announcing a few months ago that it will not be renewing its sponsorship.
Deputy minister of education, innovation, youth, sport, arts and culture Dino Ballotti in September announced that the ministry had allocated N$10 million for the league to kick off.
The NFA and the Namibian Ports Authority signed a three-year sponsorship agreement valued at N$3.5 million per year in May.
The NFA said the funding would cover the expenses of referees, prize money, and the administrative and operational costs of running leagues.
Meanwhile, Khomas Netball Association chairperson Dimitri Bittler welcomes the levy but questions how it is going to be equally distributed to the sport codes often overshadowed by other codes like football.
“We are moving in the right direction when it comes to the sport levy, however, the challenge we are sitting with is how is it going to benefit sport codes and how will distribution work. How will it be fair? because right now we have sport codes that overshadow other codes,” he says.
He proposes that groundwork needs to be done first to outline how the levy will be implemented, how much private and public companies will have to pay and how the resulting funds will be distributed to ensure no sport code overshadows the other.
“The levy will obviously be channelled to the high authority, the line ministry and then trickle down to federations. How is the federation going to share that with soccer, for example, that has over 500 clubs?” he asks.
Bittler says a mechanism must be put in place to ensure the levy benefits lower divisions in the regions who suffer from a lack of funds, as funds hardly reach them.
