The Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service (MSYNS) and the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) are still to honour their reward policy to athletes who won silverwares 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.
Despite them winning and government having an approved national sports reward policy which clearly stipulates that athletes who win silverware will be rewarded for their hard work, the MSYNS and NSC are yet to reward these athletes.
Aina Shikesho, chief public relations officer at the MSYNS, told Nampa in a recent interview that the ministry, just like the other government ministries, gets its funding through the Ministry of Finance.
“Unfortunately, due to a budget short-fall, deserving athletes could not be rewarded for their excellent performance, however, the MSYNS has submitted its request for the needed funds to the Ministry of Finance and is waiting for the latter to release the funds to settle all outstanding payments of athletes and technical personnel,” she said.
Tonateni Shidhudhu, chief public relations officer at the Ministry of Finance told this agency on Monday that government does not work in isolation and therefore the MSYNS is supposed to inform athletes when they will be rewarded because they are well aware on when the funds will be released.
Speaking to Nampa on Tuesday, NSC Chief Administrator, Freddy Mwiya, said he has communicated to the line ministry to reward athletes before their departure for the Olympics and Paralympic Games.
“There is no way we can send athletes to the games without being paid what is owed to them because this will affect their performance as they will not be motivated,” Mwiya said.
Gaby Ahrens, the chairperson of the athlete’s commission in Namibia, told this agency on Monday that this is a sad matter.
“This has taught us to stop relying on the government sorely and therefore we are advising athletes to always try to make it on their own. We advise athletes to start getting their own sponsors that can help them prepare for international competitions,” she said.
Source: Namibia Press Agency
