Athletes still waiting reward policy money since 2019
After almost two years now, the sport ministry and the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) are still to honour their reward policy to athletes who won silverware for the country at different competitions in 2019.
During 2019, Namibian athletes competed in different sport codes and won medals at the Africa Games in Morocco, the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar and World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This month marks a year and six months since athletes won medals in cycling, archery and boxing at the Africa Games which were held during the month of August 2019, while the two world championships took place in October and November.
Even though the national sports reward policy clearly stipulates that athletes who win silverware will be rewarded for their hard work, the line ministry and the sports commission are yet to reward these athletes.
Speaking to Nampa recently, NSC chief administrator Freddy Mwiya said from the time the athletes won medals for the country, the commission has been in communication with its stakeholders and submitted a budget of N$910 000. “We know we owe these athletes money and we did all the paper work which we submitted to the ministry and we are waiting to hear from them, if there are funds available to reward our athletes,” he said.
He added that athletes are currently busy preparing for major competitions this year and it will not be good if they are not rewarded ahead of major competitions that are scheduled for 2021.
The sport ministry’s executive director Audrin Mathe yesterday explained that they have prepared a statement on the matter but they were experiencing internet problems and therefore could not give the statement but once their internet was up and running they would issue the statement.
Gaby Ahrens, the chairperson of the athlete’s commission in Namibia, yesterday said that she has not contacted the new executive director but she is planning for a meeting with his office in due course as the matter still needs to be addressed.