Team Namibia struggle to register

CLOSE to 190 members of Team Namibia set to compete at the Zone Six Youth Championships which starts today in the capital, had to find alternative accommodation on Friday after most of them could not produce the correct documents for accreditation.

As hosts, Namibian officials and athletes were refused entry and accreditation on Friday after officials of the Zone Six Games Committee turned them away. This was mainly because the athletes did not have authentic birth certificates, identity cards and passports to verify their ages.Instead, the Namibian Sports Commission (NSC), which is footing the bill for the Namibian contingent, booked all the athletes into the Windhoek Country Club, and in the process had to cough up about N$40 000.NSC administrative officer Rusten Mogane told The Namibian Sport yesterday that the Namibian team was turned away because most of the athletes could not produce original copies of documents needed by officials verifying accreditation.All participants competing in the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa (SCSA) Zone Six Games are housed at the Athletes Village at the University of Namibia (Unam).According to Mogane, more Namibian team officials arrived than were officially recognised.”I don’t know where the other officials came from.That is one of the things that we had to sort out and secondly the documents of the athletes,” he said.He said he was upset about the athletes being refused entry because of the absence of official documentation.”These people have certified copies (birth certificate and passports) of all our athletes and officials and I saw no reason why they acted that way,” he said.Asked if they checked the rules of the Games before going for accreditation, Mogane said team officials were supposed to look at them while the NSC’s job was to foot the bill.Mogane said that all countries competing in the Games were supposed to pay for accommodation at the Athletes Village.He said the amount they paid at the five-star hotel was more-or-less the same as the amounts they had to pay at the Athletes Village.The NSC paid N$490 per athlete for the night, while at the village they paid N$450 per day.Meanwhile, Deputy Director for School Sports, Shivute Katamba, said everything was under control, but admitted that there was a mix-up with the identification documents.He said arrangements had been made to get the correct documents for about 60 athletes who did not have the right papers.”We will not compete without being accredited, so we have made arrangements to have all the outstanding original documents of the athletes before the Games.”Katamba hoped that accreditation would be ready by late yesterday.He confirmed that all athletes were now booked into the Athletes Village, but would only be expected to compete once their original documents had arrived, which was only after the accreditation process.Namibia is competing against other southern African countries including the DRC and Tanzania in the Games, which will feature under 20 players in various disciplines.Prime Minister Nahas Angula will officially open the Games today.The first event will be a women’s football match between Namibia and Zambia at 17h30.Other codes include boxing, netball, basketball, tennis and athletics for the visually impaired.This was mainly because the athletes did not have authentic birth certificates, identity cards and passports to verify their ages.Instead, the Namibian Sports Commission (NSC), which is footing the bill for the Namibian contingent, booked all the athletes into the Windhoek Country Club, and in the process had to cough up about N$40 000.NSC administrative officer Rusten Mogane told The Namibian Sport yesterday that the Namibian team was turned away because most of the athletes could not produce original copies of documents needed by officials verifying accreditation.All participants competing in the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa (SCSA) Zone Six Games are housed at the Athletes Village at the University of Namibia (Unam).According to Mogane, more Namibian team officials arrived than were officially recognised.”I don’t know where the other officials came from.That is one of the things that we had to sort out and secondly the documents of the athletes,” he said.He said he was upset about the athletes being refused entry because of the absence of official documentation.”These people have certified copies (birth certificate and passports) of all our athletes and officials and I saw no reason why they acted that way,” he said.Asked if they checked the rules of the Games before going for accreditation, Mogane said team officials were supposed to look at them while the NSC’s job was to foot the bill.Mogane said that all countries competing in the Games were supposed to pay for accommodation at the Athletes Village.He said the amount they paid at the five-star hotel was more-or-less the same as the amounts they had to pay at the Athletes Village.The NSC paid N$490 per athlete for the night, while at the village they paid N$450 per day.Meanwhile, Deputy Director for School Sports, Shivute Katamba, said everything was under control, but admitted that there was a mix-up with the identification documents.He said arrangements had been made to get the correct documents for about 60 athletes who did not have the right papers.”We will not compete without being accredited, so we have made arrangements to have all the outstanding original documents of the athletes before the Games.”Katamba hoped that accreditation would be ready by late yesterday.He confirmed that all athletes were now booked into the Athletes Village, but would only be expected to compete once their original documents had arrived, which was only after the accreditation process.Namibia is competing against other southern African countries including the DRC and Tanzania in the Games, which will feature under 20 players in various disciplines.Prime Minister Nahas Angula will officially open the Games today.The first event will be a women’s football match between Namibia and Zambia at 17h30.Other codes include boxing, netball, basketball, tennis and athletics for the visually impaired.