Rugby fracas refuses to let up

Veteran rugby administrator, Corrie Mensah has called for rigorous debate surrounding the issues affecting the game in Namibia. Mensah, who is the former vice-president at the Namibian Rugby Union (NRU), along with Elmo Kurz, David van Kradenburg and Marcelino Dentlinger - who were all executive members at the time, resigned from their respective posts in May. At the time the four did not provide any reasons for their abrupt departure. But the bubble burst yesterday when a group of concerned rugby administrators called a press conference, hosted at the University of Namibia’s (Unam) rugby team’s club house. The concerned group, which was led by Unam Rugby chairperson, Christian Windvogel, listed a number of issues the NRU failed to deal with correctly. Among these were a debriefing report (which contained an account of the ill-treatment of non-white players) compiled by Mensah following Namibia’s European tour in November last year, alleged gross mismanagement of funds by the NRU’s CEO Sybrand de Beer, the slow pace of transformation and a serious disregard of Namibia’s labour laws. Mensah’s debriefing report turned into a bone of contention after the NRU opted not to recognise the account as an official report. Accusations, rebuttals The concerned group says that the NRU’s reluctance to accept this report is “shocking, unacceptable and against all moral principles that the Board ignored... eight written complaints by black players on issues of discrimination, racism and victimisation.” NRU president Bradley Basson, who had taken it upon himself to attend yesterday’s press conference, said that Mensah’s report lacked certain elements and as a result could not be accepted. “The debriefing report had a sample group of only eight people and hence another report had to be compiled, which included all the players on tour,” he said. Mismanagement The group further accused the NRU of covering up what they termed “gross mismanagement of funds” by de Beer. According to them, de Beer had committed a number of offences which included the use of “reward miles of the NRU at Air Namibia for personal purposes,” and the booking of accommodation at the International Garden Court Hotel in Johannesburg, which the NRU paid for, even though the CEO had no business reason for doing so. The group further alleged that since these actions were not reported in the minutes of several meetings, it was an attempt to cover-up de Beer’s actions. Basson says that the meetings dealing with “these issues were conducted in camera” as doing otherwise would have “opened ourselves (NRU) for legal action if the allegations against the CEO proved to be false.” Transformation The concerned group further listed the fact that only one ethnically black player in Tjiuee Uanivi, who is based in France, was involved in last weekend’s friendly test against Russia. This is an indication that the NRU has not done enough to justify the Namibian government’s funding of the rugby, over the years, the group charge. “Is this fair to say the least, after 25 years, with or without a formal Transformation Policy?” Windvogel read. Basson responded by saying that the current NRU leadership has been aware of the issue of transformation, from the very first day of taking office. “Yes, we agree it is a sad state of affairs that we only have one [black] lock in the team. But the board has always maintained that it will not interfere with player selections, unless these selections are not with the team’s selection policy,” he said. He went on to state that the NRU had previously sent representatives, including Mensah, to the South Africa Rugby Union (SARU) offices to observe what steps Namibia’s neighbours have taken when it comes to transformation. Labour laws The group further claim “it seems to be customary with the NRU administration to appoint people with disregard of the Namibian Labour Act.” According to the group, the NRU in 2014 dismissed a black lady, who was employed as a personal assistant to the CEO and replaced her with the wife of a personal friend of de Beer’s. The new PA is said to be South African. Furthermore, the group charged that even though there was strong support to install Namibian Walter Don as backline coach, a South African, Pieter Rossouw, was appointed instead. “The same goes for the head coach, and this we say with all due respect to Phil Davies, whom we highly respect and who obviously did not appoint himself, that the NRU did not advertise this position... Is Danie Vermeulen the only Namibian that was worthy to be appointed?” Windvogel asked. Recommendations Basson said that the appointment of the coaching staff was done on the recommendation of the International Rugby Board (IRB), which is now known as World Rugby. “The appointments are imposed on the NRU by the IRB, who want the team to be competitive at the Rugby World Cup. You tell them in what areas you need help and they in turn provide grants for that,” Basson said. At this stage, the concerned group said that Basson is attempting to derail their press conference as he had never attended to their concerns when asked to do so. With that the NRU president left leaving the press conference to continue. World Cup year Mensah, meanwhile, touched on the notion that battles within the NRU only tend to develop during the year that Namibia is set to take part in the Rugby World Cup. “What is happening is not our doing... do we have to condone the [wrongdoings] just because it is World Cup year?” he asked before saying these are the very issues he fought against prior to Namibia’s Independence. “I have been involved in rugby for 39 years and I thought I could leave a legacy for the next generation so that they don’t face the same problems,” he said. “Back in the day, we tried to resolve issues of transformation, but we got nowhere and dialogue ceased. Now still, we have to fight the same issues 25 years after independence,” he said. Something must happen Mensah said that the time is ripe to find a lasting solution to the problems afflicting rugby. “We want to try, once and for all to solve this so that we can make the best of our combined abilities,” he said. “Something must happen because we cannot keep fighting that like this. Basson is my brother-in-law, but I must fight him because we don’t see eye to eye. “This must stop,” he urged. Mensah added that Namibia’s rugby future remains bright provided that things are done correctly. “We have to strive to go in the right direction for the right reasons, not our own agendas,” he said. Unam’s Werner Jeffery, who is also on the NRU’s council, said that the university and the clubs, which make up the concerned group, are only interested in taking the game to greater heights. “We are serious about rugby, as can be seen by our team’s performance in the league, but we also want the things around it to be well,” he said. WINDHOEK-HECTOR MAWONGA