Sport commission clarifies amateur boxing leadership

Namibia Amateur Boxing Federation (NABF) president Jeremia Ndjembo will only serve one year in that role and not four years, the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) declared yesterday.

The same applies to the federation’s head of referees and judges, Lysias Hangula, who, like Ndjembo, has already served nine years on the NABF executive, with the limit set at 10 by the Namibia Sports Act.

Concerns were raised with the commission following the November 2024 congress which ushered in a new executive committee at Otjiwarongo.

“It was not easy, because we needed to do a fact-finding mission and also verify with all supportive documents. I’m here to pronounce that during our fact-finding mission, as of yesterday [Wednesday], we have an outcome,” NSC chief administrator Freddy Mwiya said.

“Out of this outcome, quite a number of conditions were met. The only two aspects the federation must look at is the president and one of the executive members that were elected, meaning next year there must be a special election for these two positions.”

The complete leadership also includes Immanuel Hamukwaya as vice president, Joel Ngungu as spokesperson, Petrus Kashango as secretary general, Trefina Shivolo as treasurer, Selma Shikukumwa as the deputy head, Israel Hamutumbangela as the head of coaches, Martin Shipindo as his deputy, Tangeni Amuthenu as medical executive member and the head of competition, Joel Ngungu as legal adviser, and Johanna Angwena as the head of women in boxing.

The next step is for the NABF to affiliate with World Boxing, which recently got provisional recognition from the International Olympic Committee as the international federation for amateur boxing, paving the way for boxing’s inclusion in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

Namibia was a member of the International Boxing Association (IBA), previously known as Aiba, which had been the governing body for boxing at the Summer Olympics until 2020 until its suspension and its recognition withdrawn over poor governance and financial transparency.

“They IOC can only be able to fund boxing in our country if we affiliated to the World Boxing federation,” Mwiya said.

“As we prepare our Namibian athletes for the Olympic Games, we need to go that route, because that is the ultimate goal of any athlete to reach the Olympic Games.

“We are also directing them [the NABF] that in terms of their constitution, there’s a need to do some adjustments in terms of the international participation, because it will be difficult for them to participate at major international games where our athletes can accumulate points to qualify for the Olympic Games,” Mwiya said.

NABF secretary general Kashango says the new leadership intends to build on the country’s legacy of producing world champions.

“Boxing is one of the sport codes that brings Namibia most medals. If you follow the history of just the last two youth games in Lesotho and Mozambique, boxing was one of the best-performing codes,” Kashango said.

“We are ready to work with any organisation, but what we want is the benefit for our athletes. We are not doing this for us. If athletes think it is the best, let us join the best option.”