Ndeuli to clean up basketball mess

NAMIBIAN basketball is expected to be revived after it was discovered that there is no national leadership, while the regional structures have all but collapsed.

The revelation was made by Ndeulipulwa Hamutumwa who was tasked by the Namibia Sports Commission head an interim committee that will restore the missing structures and bring back the pride of the game.Hamutumwa will be assisted by Claudette Gustavo as interim treasurer and Carlos Manuel, who will act as the caretaker secretary general.Hamutumwa, also a former president of the Namibia Basketball Federation (NBF), was confirmed to be the new man behind the clean-up campaign that will look at repairing the damage that has been done to the sport over the years.He said they will firstly put up an administrative base and will get in touch with all the international bodies to see if the NBF is still affiliated.He said that will be followed by a Constitutional Review, which will seek to address the imbalances and loopholes in the body’s rule book to ensure that it conforms with the national organisations.Hamutumwa added that they are also planning a basketball Indaba where they will involve all stakeholders to look at the problems in the game and how it can serve the players in the long run.He said they also aim to restructure the regions so that they are functional and ultimately want to do away with the current status of people who are elected into positions, but serving no purpose.He said the elections for a new leadership for the sport will only be held when all the administrative, constitutional and regional systems are in place.Commissioner for basketball Charles Nyambe added that the current committee with the assistance of the NSC will have to come up with a plan of action on how they intend to clean up the mess.’We cannot talk about a timeframe on when we will have elections, but we want to ensure that everything is in place and that there is a conducive environment for the new leadership to start from,’ he said.But Hamutumwa said that he intends to have the affiliation process, the constitutional review and the indaba tackled by the end of October.’We need to have those three areas covered fully to talk about a new leadership. For now, we will go back and pick up where the former national leadership has left off and by all means, try to make something positive of the game and restore its pride and dignity countrywide,’ he said. corry@namibian.com.na