Minister of sport, youth and national service Agnes Tjongarero says excessively complicated administrative procedures are delaying the refurbishment of Independence Stadium in Windhoek – not her ministry.
She shared this with Desert Radio yesterday in reaction to minister of finance and public enterprises Iipumbu Shiimi’s assertion that the sport ministry was dragging its feet on the matter of urgently upgrading and renovating Namibia’s stadiums.
The country’s substandard facilities are not fit to host international matches, with the consequence that it has spent millions to host the national teams’ home matches abroad since 2020.
The situation is likely to continue for another two years.
The government allocated N$50 million during the 2022/23 financial year to the upgrading and renovation of Independence Stadium to meet the requirements for hosting international football matches, Shiimi said on Wednesday during his midterm budget review speech.
“I would like to take this opportunity to clarify the widespread misconception that the government has not prioritised funding sport activities, hence our national team continues to play international matches on foreign soil,” he said.
Another N$37,5 million towards the project was made available in the current financial year, with a further N$60 million and N$65 million committed in the medium-term expenditure framework for 2024/25 and 2025/26.
“I would therefore like to make it clear that the problem with upgrading the stadium has never been a lack of money, but rather slow execution. We therefore need to adopt a collective government approach to fast track the renovation of our sport facilities,” Shiimi said.
However, Tjongarero said Shiimi was being economical with the facts.
“What he omitted, or neglected to say, is that the Procurement Act comes from his ministry. They have put these lengthy processes in place,” Tjongarero said yesterday.
“It’s not us. We’re at the point of appointing a bid evaluation committee which will be as from next week. Then, we wait for those long [30] days again.
“From the week of 13 November we are hoping to get the committee to look into all those who have bid for this process, and then we move on.”
It has taken about six months to get to this stage, she said.
“The whole of the ministry of sport is concerned about these long processes. I don’t blame the people, because they don’t know the issues we’re going through just to get to the point of appointing a specific constructor to come and start.
“But the minister [Shiimi] is aware – everyone in the Cabinet and parliament is aware of this,” Tjongarero said.
“He [Shiimi] put the procurement in his ministry. Either he doesn’t know, or he forgot about those lengthy processes. I sense he’s putting the blame on us.
“We are not slow. The process is slow,” the sport minister said.
Work on Independence Stadium should ideally start by the end of November, she said.
“The moment we’ve got the person on the ground, or whichever company is chosen, then the process will run.
“All I can say to my countrymen and women is that we are almost there especially with Independence Stadium. It’s only about four weeks, but please give us a bit of time.”
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Just before Namibia’s football teams were rendered homeless, former director of sport Vetumbuavi Veii shared similar reservations about the procurement system.
He said poor sport infrastructure is down to unnecessary red tape.
“If you look at a sport facility like the one in the Ohangwena region, we started that two years before I went on retirement [in 2015].
“I have been retired for five years, but up to now that facility has not been finalised,” Veii said in an interview with The Namibian in April 2020.
“We could have built a lot of sport facilities if we were following the right process,” he said.
Tjongarero said the ministry is looking to access around N$140 million for development of more sport infrastructure countrywide.
“When the budget was approved, there was no N$140 million. That is what we are envisaging for 2024/25 financial year.
“We don’t have N$140 million for infrastructure this year. We are planning to request this from the treasury to be given if possible.”
The 2024/25 budget will be used to erect, rehabilitate or upgrade sport facilities in the Oshana, Erongo, Kavango West, Zambezi, //Kharas, Kunene and Hardap regions, she said.
“We have a baby in the country, and that is the Kavango West region. There is nothing in the Kavango West, we have to do something for them.
“If we get that N$140 million, the Kavango West would be a priority,” Tjongarero said.
“If we get that N$140 million, the Swakopmund, Oshakati and Independence stadiums must also be finished.”
