Cabinet approves categorisation of sport codes
The cabinet has approved the categorisation of sport codes by the ministry of sport.
At its 11th session in Windhoek last week, the cabinet endorsed the proposal made by the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) through the ministry.
The minister of information and communication technology, Stanley Simataa, said sport codes would be divided into three categories: national codes, priority codes and development codes.
“This process started some time ago with various consultations taking place. Given the fact that we have 53 sporting codes in the country and all depend on the allocation from government through the ministry, we felt there was a need to categorise these codes,” he explained. Football, netball and rugby are the three national sport codes, while athletics, Paralympic sport, boxing and wrestling are categorised as priority sports.
Cricket, basketball, gymnastics and other sports are categorised as development codes.
Simataa said resources would be distributed accordingly, as the country could no longer continue with the “shotgun approach” when allocating financial resources to sports.
He called on corporate entities operating in Namibia to meet the government halfway in sport development.
“We have said to the private sector, come on board and invest in sport, as it is in their interest to invest in the nation being competitive. Government funding is inadequate,” he said.
Simataa added that the allocation of resources would be done on a sliding scale according to these three categories.
The minister said he was not privy to how the allocation would work as only the sport ministry and NSC had the details.
NSC chief administrator Freddy Simataa Mwiya said he had not received any official communication from the ministry and could not comment.
The categorisation will remain in place until 2022.
NAMPA
At its 11th session in Windhoek last week, the cabinet endorsed the proposal made by the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) through the ministry.
The minister of information and communication technology, Stanley Simataa, said sport codes would be divided into three categories: national codes, priority codes and development codes.
“This process started some time ago with various consultations taking place. Given the fact that we have 53 sporting codes in the country and all depend on the allocation from government through the ministry, we felt there was a need to categorise these codes,” he explained. Football, netball and rugby are the three national sport codes, while athletics, Paralympic sport, boxing and wrestling are categorised as priority sports.
Cricket, basketball, gymnastics and other sports are categorised as development codes.
Simataa said resources would be distributed accordingly, as the country could no longer continue with the “shotgun approach” when allocating financial resources to sports.
He called on corporate entities operating in Namibia to meet the government halfway in sport development.
“We have said to the private sector, come on board and invest in sport, as it is in their interest to invest in the nation being competitive. Government funding is inadequate,” he said.
Simataa added that the allocation of resources would be done on a sliding scale according to these three categories.
The minister said he was not privy to how the allocation would work as only the sport ministry and NSC had the details.
NSC chief administrator Freddy Simataa Mwiya said he had not received any official communication from the ministry and could not comment.
The categorisation will remain in place until 2022.
NAMPA
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