Hope for Namibian Sports
Hope for Namibian Sports

Hope for Namibian Sports

Deputy Minister convinced future can be better
Kaino Nghitongo
The deputy minister of Sports, Agnes Tjongarero said all hope is not lost in Namibian sports, but there is a need for “committed and serious” sport administrators.

She made this remark in an interview with Namibian Sun recently, stating that good administration starts when people are accountable and always have their work on record.

“A good administrator will always have some minutes, discussion and having things in order and the sports commission is supposed to sit and say to these federations that we need their reports.

“We need to have annual reports and do not want weekly things, but it can be done once you have got committed and dedicated people who are serious about the issue,” she said.

Tjongarero indicated that ever since she took office as the deputy minister of sports, she has requested work to be done, but is still waiting on that to be delivered.

“I have requested for an award policy since I came into this office and I am still waiting, because we must have an award policy before, even if they go to a regional thing they must know that if you get a gold this is how much we are going to give you.

“Most of the things have to be from the sport commission, but we have an unfortunate situation because we do not have a chief administrator and without one we are lost, because the old ones go out and the new ones come in and there is nothing to say these are the things that those guys embarked on and have finished this and this is still pending,” she said.



Chief Administrator

Asked when a chief administrator will be appointed, she said she was informed that the appointment will be done soon.

“Since I took office I have been singing this song and thought they will employ a chief administrator.

“I asked one of the guys working there who said he heard that they are almost finalising so let''s wait and see when that will be done,” she said.



Olympic preparations

The deputy minister stated that they have set strict qualifying standards for the next Olympic Games.

“We said to the federations that if there are athletes whom they want to take to the next Olympic Games, then the athletes should be evaluated now and have their names by latest January next year,” she said.

She explained that federations will be required to give profiles of the athletes and why they think such athletes qualify to go to Tokyo 2020.



Sick and tired

“I hope they will stick to it because I am sick and tired of this thing of come Olympic year all people are saying I qualified.

“We have said they must come with their criteria but I don''t want to hear about any bronze or anybody qualifying with bronze. Forget about it. You are going to compete against gold medallists,” she maintained.

She further explained that with regard to boxing, the organisers are expected to look into the qualifying criteria, but for sport codes like running, in order for an athlete to qualify, they must beat the time of the athlete that finished last in that event.

“In the short and middle distance events, I said let us use the time of the semi-finals of Rio 2016. We compare the time of the person who was last and if you cannot beat that time what are you going to do at the Olympics?,” she said.



Budget

Commenting on the widely reported budget cuts that the ministry is facing, Tjongarero said the cuts are unfavourable.

“All our projects are now on hold and it is very unfortunate, because in some areas they do not have any facilities yet we are talking of taking sport there. Where must they play?

“The financial issue is not very favourable at the moment, because some sport facilities and building of multi-purpose centres and all those projects are now on hold and we don''t know for how long. So, it is not a good situation in which we are. But, it is not only us who have had budget cuts but other ministries as well,” she further said.



Qualified administrators

While currently there is no institution of higher learning in the country that offers a sport qualification, Tjongarero indicated that such courses are in the pipeline.

“When I was still with NNOC we started speaking to NUST about sport courses to be introduced and that is in the pipeline,” she said.

She however stated that she would have loved to have qualified sport administrators, administering sports in this country, but “again it is for the federation to solicit funds for that person, because government cannot employ all those people.”

The minister also said although companies have budgets for social responsibility “we don''t go to them, because we are waiting for the government to give us money.”

“Secondly for you to go to KFC for example, you must have a product to sell and we do not have products,” said Tjongarero with reference to the need to have athletes who achieve and are well known.



KAINO NGHITONGO

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Namibian Sun 2024-12-24

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