Outjo councillor resigns from NFA

Outjo councillor Laurence Kandundu has resigned from the Namibia Football Association executive committee following a Namibia Sports Commission directive about Sport Act compliance. Commission spokesperson Givean Simulandela yesterday said the issue was not about holding two jobs simultaneously, but about compliance with Section 25 of the act, which prohibits local authority councillors from serving on the executive committee of a sport federation. “It was just a matter of explaining that particular provision to the affected members and to let them opt where they wish to practice their democratic right, either to continue serving the local authority or continue with their seat on the executive committee of the Namibia Football Association,” he said. NFA acting general secretary Mabos Vries yesterday said Kandundu resigned on 1 June. “The NFA will communicate in due course on who will replace Mr Kandundu as per the slide list of 17 November 2023 NFA Elections,” he said. The commission last month threatened to suspend or withdraw the NFA’s recognition as Namibia’s national football body if it failed to comply with directives to justify or terminate Kandundu’s appointment. In letters seen by The Namibian , the NSC first gave the NFA 14 days to address the matter before issuing a second directive of 24 hours to remove Kandundu from its executive committee. “Failure to comply with this directive within the stipulated time frame will leave the commission with no alternative but to envoke the provisions of Section 28 of the Sport Act, which may include suspension or the withdrawal of recognition of the NFA as a national sport body,” the commission said. Simulandela said the matter had since been settled and there was “no bad blood” between the commission and the NFA. “It was just a matter of compliance, which has been fulfilled. The NFA remains a compliant member of the Namibia Sports Commission,” he said. Kandundu has previously dismissed the matter as political, arguing he did not hold two full-time jobs and questioning what he described as the retrospective application of the law. NFA acting secretary general Mabos Vries had earlier said that if Kandundu was found to be in contravention of the Sport Act, it would be his prerogative to decide which position to vacate. When asked for comment yesterday, Kandundu said: “There are no new developments on the matter.” The post Outjo councillor resigns from NFA appeared first on The Namibian .