Filling CA vacancy is NSC's priority

Filling CA vacancy is NSC's priorityEnd in sight for recruitment saga The Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) is confident of appointing a permanent chief administrator by February. The chairperson of the Namibia Sports Commission, Joel Matheus, says he is hopeful that the commission will appoint a permanent chief administrator by next month.

Matheus stressed the need of starting the year with a permanent person who could spearhead the NSC's plans for the year 2017.

Sport commissioner Peter Wilson is currently acting as chief administrator. He was appointed last year after acting chief administrator Walter Haseb left.

In an interview yesterday Matheus said: “We really hope that this time around things will finally fall into place and we will have a permanent person in the position by February.

“That is the sports commission's number one priority at the moment given the importance of the matter and the time it has taken for the commission to appoint a new chief administrator.

“We want the current acting chief administrator to serve only until the end of February because this position has been held on acting basis for so long.

“The Sports Commission has also decided that it will not re-advertise the position, but will stick with the three short-listed candidates.”

Cricket Namibia CEO Donavan Zealand, Fabian George and Freddy Mwiya are the short-listed candidates for the position.

Sources last year suggested that Zealand was the frontrunner for the job after receiving the backing of deputy sport minister Agnes Tjongarero.

The sources suggested that Zealand was prepared to turn down the offer because of the package he was offered. Zealand denied the allegations. Matheus is optimistic that at least one of the three candidates will accept the offer.

He said they would have final discussions with the three candidates once he returned to office.

Prominent figures have been acting in the position since 2013, when Rusten Mogane was sacked due to irregularities.

The NSC headhunted several prominent officials but none of them was willing to take up the position permanently because of the responsibilities that come with the hot seat.

One of the headhunted officials on the radar of the sports commission was current Namibia Press Agency CEO Isack Hamata.

Shivute Katamba, Harold Fulle and Walter Haseb have all been acting in the position since Mogane's departure.

Matheus added that the commission had submitted the sport plan drawn up after the 2014 National Sports Conference to the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service for approval.

“As we speak, the sport plan is in the hands of the ministry and we are just waiting for them to approve the proposals.

“The other thing is the reviewing of the Sport Act, which I suppose is currently at the Ministry of Justice if I am not wrong.

“Rome was not built in one year and therefore my aim is to ensure that the commission gets better in the next three years,” Matheus said.

JESSE JACKSON KAURAISA