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Calls to halt Harders Cup over missing prize money

CALLED OUT … Irate participants are branding Tim Ekandjo’s Harders Cup a scam after he failed to pay the promised lucrative prizes. Photo: Contributed

Participants in the Lüderitz Harders Cup say no prize money has been paid out since the event last September.

In spite of the tournament promising rewards of up to N$200 000, the second-largest prize for a football tournament in Namibia, the winners say they remain empty-handed four months later.

On top of this, stakeholders claim prize money from the 2019 edition of the tournament is also outstanding.

Spiders FC vice chairperson Daniel Swartbooi claims his team, the runners-up of the competition, is owed N$ 100 000.

“That is after our hard sweat and tears. That’s what they pay us back: Nothing . . . It seems for us, this is a self-enrichment scheme,” he says.

Event founder Tim Ekandjo in a ‘pos-mortem’ report of the event says the tournament had a budget shortfall of N$506 018.

Payments that remain outstanding are prize money totalling N$420 000, a bursary payment of N$40 000, Namibian Broadcasting Corporation subsistence and travel allowances of N$52 600, and an outstanding amount of N$6 950 for security.

In spite of this Ekandjo describes the event as “an absolute success”, citing successful social media marketing strategies and the benefit of the event for small local businesses.

He says the shortfall in funds is due to a number of factors.

It was anticipated that the event would attract at least two platinum and two gold sponsors, which did not happen.

Further, FlyNamibia suspended its flights to Lüderitz during the cup, leading organisers to rent a charter flight, leading to N$119 000 in unexpected expenses.

Finally, Lüderitz Sport Stadium required extensive rehabilitation, including replacing up to half of the grass, and fixing lights and toilets.

Ekandjo says the outstanding amount will be included in the funds the organisers are trying to raise for the next tournament.

The report does not clarify when 2024’s victors can expect their reward, however, it does suggest that the next prize would be reduced to avoid future delays.

This, however, does not explain the exponential increase in prize money since 2019, the year of the tournament’s third edition, of which the prize money is allegedly still outstanding.

Ekandjo says he is planning to introduce a new type of sponsorship in this year’s tournament, offering ‘naming rights’ for up to N$700 000.

Former //Kharas region football chairperson Josef Frederiks says the event planners’ repeated failure is a matter of gross mismanagement and exploitation.

“It’s not about football. These people are being used as pawns,” he says.

He is calling for the tournament to be stopped until all the promised money is paid out, and until sponsors are held accountable for their decision to continue supporting the event despite its tainted past.

Continuing the tournament is nothing but “arrogance, ignorance, stubbornness”, he says. 

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