Quiet war for NFA presidency

With just slightly over a week to go before the Namibian Football Association (NFA) decides on its next president, no official confirmation of who is standing for the position has been received. This is in stark contrast to previous years when the candidates were known well in advance. Although the nomination of candidates closed on November 8, the process of deciding whether the nominated individuals can stand for the position is apparently not finalised. Instead, there has only been speculation, with two weekly newspapers running articles discrediting the two men who are said to have been nominated. In the one corner is outgoing NFA president John Muinjo’s preferred successor: Frans Mbidi. In the opposite corner appears to be Black Africa owner Ranga Haikali, who is said to have been nominated by a few regions. Efforts to confirm whether these are the two candidates proved futile during the week. Despite neither of the two being confirmed as candidate, it did not stop either camp from publishing stories that appear to discredit the other. The first shot was fired when Confidante published an article claiming that Haikali’s candidacy was invalid. Negligent In comments attributed to NFA Secretary-General Barry Rukoro, the Black Africa owner was said to be negligent as a member of the Board of Governors at the Namibia Premier League (NPL). “You have a football club owner who after losing an election four years ago decided to neglect his role on the Namibia Premier League (NPL) Board of Governors (BoGs). He simply disappeared and neglected his role at NPL but now he hears that there will be an elective congress, decides again to come back,” Rukoro was quoted as saying. This, naturally, drew a fiery response from Haikali, who claimed that his absence at some meetings was a deliberate ploy by his club’s management. “My sporadic absence from BoG meetings is a strategic arrangement within the structures of BA,” he said in an interview with New Era. Response Meanwhile, Mbidi’s candidacy also came under attack, with Khomas regional chairman David Goagoseb quoted in The Villager as saying that the Oshana regional chairman has done nothing for football. “The reasons given by the president [Muinjo] are absolutely unreasonable and unjustifiable, what did he (Mbidi) contribute to the development of football,” Goagoseb asked of Mbidi’s position as chairman of the Oshana Region. Mbidi, who is also on the executive board of the NFA, was installed as the seemingly natural successor when Muinjo requested members to support him in a press statement released late in October. “My term as president of the NFA will come to an end in December... For succession purposes, I have thus groomed Mr Frans Mbidi to take over from me and am requesting the members to support him as he will make out a credible and suitable replacement,” Muinjo had said in the statement. Football involvement Various reports suggest that Haikali will be joined by former Brave Warriors and current Blue Waters board member Sandro de Gouveia as his vice-president. The two will be competing with Mbidi and Omaheke regional chairman Croocks Nunuheb as his vice-president. A declaration adopted by the NFA in September required that a prospective candidate be involved in football for at least four years prior to the election. This, therefore, means that while it was adopted in September it can only become applicable going forward as no new regulation can be applied retroactively. Nonetheless, football fans will be hoping that whoever eventually takes over the reins will have the capability to take on the issues affecting the local game. These include the lack of youth development by football clubs, the continuing struggle to retain playing talent, helping the game become professional and dwindling interest from local fans. WINDHOEK-HECTOR MAWONGA