The suspension of a finance director who reportedly flagged questionable transactions at the Namibia Football Association (NFA) raises troubling questions about whose interests the association’s leaders are protecting.
Last week, a day after Namibian Ports Authority (Namport) committed N$90 million in public money to the association over three seasons, the NFA’s acting general secretary, Mabos Vries, suspended its director of finance, Mino Gariseb.
There are two possible explanations: The association may have a disciplinary case it has been slow to pursue, in which case it should say what that case is.
Or Gariseb is being moved aside for questioning several financial transactions, including the alleged resale of Fifa World Cup tickets meant for local fans.
A report signed by Gariseb flags N$12 000 that a national team player says he repaid to the NFA by sending it to a cellphone number the report links to competitions director Tim Isaacs.
In the same report, Gariseb asked that NFA executive council members stay out of administrative matters, saying the finance department was under pressure to make payments after hours.
If that account holds, the NFA owes the public an explanation on why football is once again at a crossroads.
Properly run and commercialised, football could create jobs for young people and give the country something to be proud of.
Yet 36 years after independence, Namibian football remains largely amateur.
Much of the responsibility lies with administrators who have put their own positions ahead of the growth of the game.
For years, funds provided by Fifa, the Confederation of African Football, and corporate sponsors have been treated like a personal bank account. Loyalists in the NFA hierarchy are allegedly rewarded with trips abroad, places as heads of delegation and generous travel allowances.
Insiders say NFA officials who question this are too often sidelined, while loyalists are protected by voting blocs in the federation.
Football officials often invoke Fifa’s ‘no political interference’ clause as a shield whenever state authorities or the public demand accountability.
But non-interference cannot be a blank cheque for impunity, especially when football is funded by public money and national goodwill.
President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, prime minister Elijah Ngurare and Namport should be applauded for rescuing the NFA.
But applause is not an oversight. The national leadership must now insist on accountability.
The prime minister, sport ministry and Namport should tie all state support to strict transparency standards and verifiable performance targets. As they say, nothing is for mahala.
An independent financial audit should examine NFA procurement practices, ticket allocations, and delegation expenditures. The audit should be tabled in the parliament.
In South Africa, the parliament’s portfolio committee on sport, arts and culture holds the South African Football Association (Safa) to account.
In August, it called Safa to explain coaches’ salaries and how the association accounts for its money.
If Safa can be called before the parliament, so can the NFA, which this month secured N$90 million from Namport after receiving N$40 million from the government last year.
The reforms at the NFA should not end there.
Working through the Namibia Sports Commission, the government must also champion structural governance and electoral reforms within the NFA to dismantle self-serving patronage networks once and for all.
We hope the government reviews whether the state should continue bankrolling the NFA without reform.
It should also consider funding private initiatives such as the Nedbank Namibian Newspaper Cup, which this newspaper organises and which produces national players on a fraction of that budget.
Football brings hope, livelihood, and unity to thousands of Namibians. It is time for top leadership to step forward, call administrators to order, and ensure that Soccer House is restored to serve the game and its players, not the interests of those who run it.
Otherwise, Namibian football will keep losing ground.
In Ernest Hemingway’s novel ‘The Sun Also Rises’, Bill Gorton asks Mike Campbell how he went bankrupt.
“Two ways,” Campbell says. “Gradually and then suddenly.”
Namibian football has been going broke gradually for years.
The NFA’s leaders should not wait for the sudden part.
