Van Wyk to lead NPL

NAMIBIA Premier League teams re-elected Anton van Wyk as their chairman ahead of Pieter van Wyk during a rather chaotic extraordinary general assembly of the body held at SKW on Saturday.

Anton Van Wyk won 6-5 in the last and decisive round of the elections that produced a tie during the first and second rounds. In the last round, only 11 teams voted after African Stars’ chairman Mbakumua Hengari and team manager Lesley Kozonguizi decided that they would abstain because they felt “uncomfortable with the whole process”.After the ties in the first and second rounds which saw all 12 teams voting, the meeting decided that the chairman be given the chance to cast the deciding vote, which Hengari disagreed with and ultimately withdrew.However the chairman was never given the go-ahead to cast the deciding vote and members were given a ten-minute break to lobby after the first round of elections.Hengari was worried that the unresolved issues on the promotion and relegation of teams would eventually nullify the elections in future, and he was not satisfied with the voting process in general.The withdrawal of Stars swayed the vote in favour of Anton van Wyk, who will now serve his second term as the boss of the league.The elections were handled by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and at some stage it got embroiled in the discussions after the members could not agree on several constitutional issues.A call by Hengari and Tigers chairman Kelly Asser to postpone the elections to another date was shot down after the majority of the team members (eight against four) ruled that the elections be held for the sake of progress, while it was also considered to be in accordance with the Fifa roadmap.The Fifa roadmap, which was the primary guideline of the IEC to get the elections concluded, was nearly thrown out of the window after the members started debating about the legality of the voting process.Asser and Hengari argued that the Namibia Football Association (NFA) should first solve the relegation and promotion issue before a new chairman was elected.At this stage, Chief Santos and Touch & Go are relegated, but they took part in the voting process, while Friends were also given the go-ahead to vote since they were promoted to the premiership.Santos argued that they have an appeal case pending with the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) and still have legitimate premiership status.Cosmos Auchumeb, the chairman of Santos, announced that he would be fighting their relegation.”We have lodged an appeal case against our relegation with the NSC.I don’t regard us as being relegated and as far as I’m concerned, we are still a member of the NPL,” he said.The status of Touch & Go in the voting process was never explained; neither was the status of Golden Bees.There is also no clarity whether the case of Golden Bees, who claim to have won the Northern Stream First Division, has been concluded.A disciplinary committee meeting by the NFA is reported never to have taken place to resolve the issue.Some felt that the AGM first had to be held to determine the new members, while others like Vincent Molzahn of Sport Klub Windhoek (SKW) felt that this would just prolong matters indefinitely.”We don’t see the AGM happening in the near future, because there are too many other issues to be solved,” he said.Molzahn’s point was underlined by the fact that the disciplinary case against Golden Bees was still outstanding.It was finally decided that the 12 Premier League teams from last season would be allowed to vote for the new NPL chairman, while Point 4 (dealing with suspensions, resignations as well promotions and relegations) would be struck from the agenda, to be held over and dealt with at the AGM.”This has been a vote for football.It was a democratic process.Let’s take hands and work together,” Van Wyk said after being voted in.”I also want to thank my opponent for the work he has done,” he added, saying there could still be a role for him to play in the future.”This is a first for Namibian football that the NPL will now be represented on the NFA executive committee.We will now be in a better position come the NFA presidential elections and I’m sure the next NFA president will come from the Premier League clubs,” he said.Additional reporting by Namibia SportIn the last round, only 11 teams voted after African Stars’ chairman Mbakumua Hengari and team manager Lesley Kozonguizi decided that they would abstain because they felt “uncomfortable with the whole process”.After the ties in the first and second rounds which saw all 12 teams voting, the meeting decided that the chairman be given the chance to cast the deciding vote, which Hengari disagreed with and ultimately withdrew.However the chairman was never given the go-ahead to cast the deciding vote and members were given a ten-minute break to lobby after the first round of elections.Hengari was worried that the unresolved issues on the promotion and relegation of teams would eventually nullify the elections in future, and he was not satisfied with the voting process in general.The withdrawal of Stars swayed the vote in favour of Anton van Wyk, who will now serve his second term as the boss of the league.The elections were handled by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and at some stage it got embroiled in the discussions after the members could not agree on several constitutional issues.A call by Hengari and Tigers chairman Kelly Asser to postpone the elections to another date was shot down after the majority of the team members (eight against four) ruled that the elections be held for the sake of progress, while it was also considered to be in accordance with the Fifa roadmap.The Fifa roadmap, which was the primary guideline of the IEC to get the elections concluded, was nearly thrown out of the window after the members started debating about the legality of the voting process.Asser and Hengari argued that the Namibia Football Association (NFA) should first solve the relegation and promotion issue before a new chairman was elected.At this stage, Chief Santos and Touch & Go are relegated, but they took part in the voting process, while Friends were also given the go-ahead to vote since they were promoted to the premiership.Santos argued that they have an appeal case pending with the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) and still have legitimate premiership status.Cosmos Auchumeb, the chairman of Santos, announced that he would be fighting their relegation.”We have lodged an appeal case against our relegation with the NSC.I don’t regard us as being relegated and as far as I’m concerned, we are still a member of the NPL,” he said.The status of Touch & Go in the voting process was never explained; neither was the status of Golden Bees.There is also no clarity whether the case of Golden Bees, who claim to have won the Northern Stream First Division, has been concluded.A disciplinary committee meeting by the NFA is reported never to have taken place to resolve the issue.Some felt that the AGM first had to be held to determine the new members, while others like Vincent Molzahn of Sport Klub Windhoek (SKW) felt that this would just prolong matters indefinitely.”We don’t see the AGM happening in the near future, because there are too many other issues to be solved,” he said.Molzahn’s point was underlined by the fact that the disciplinary case against Golden Bees was still outstanding.It was finally decided that the 12 Premier League teams from last season would be allowed to vote for the new NPL chairman, while Point 4 (dealing with suspensions, resignations as well promotions and relegations) would be struck from the agenda, to be held over and dealt with at the AGM.”This has been a vote for football.It was a democratic process.Let’s take hands and work together,” Van Wyk said after being voted in.”I also want to thank my opponent for the work he has done,” he added, saying there could still be a role for him to play in the future.”This is a first for Namibian football that the NPL will now be represented on the NFA executive committee.We will now be in a better position come the NFA presidential elections and I’m sure the next NFA president will come from the Premier League clubs,” he said.Additional reporting by Namibia Sport