MTC responds on Sam Nujoma Stadium media reports

The Namibian media space has recently been awash with reports regarding MTC branding at the Sam Nujoma Stadium, in Katutura, and the fact that the NFA Cup matches cannot take place there. Some of the key allegations made are:

1. That MTC prevents its competitor from staging matches at the stadium;
2. That the NFA was not aware of the contractual arrangements between the City of Windhoek and MTC; and
3. That MTC is destroying Namibian football.

May we respond as follows to each of the above:

1. Both the NFA and the sponsor of the Cup have never approached MTC to discuss any matter related to MTC's permanent branding at the stadium. To do so through public media will unfortunately not resolve anything, and to be arrogant about these issues will further worsen the situation. Maybe they are waiting for lives to be lost before they address the issues with the organisations concerned. The NFA bosses know where the MTC head office is when they need money, but apparently suddenly have forgotten the existence of the corner of Mose Tjitendero and Ndadi Streets in Olympia, Windhoek, Namibia.

The agreement with the city does not prevent anyone from using the stadium. What is prohibited is to cover the permanent branding, but on-field branding is available.

2. History and collective memory will assist on the second score. During the existence of the now defunct Namibia Football Consortium (NFC), the City of Windhoek offered the NFC the first right of refusal with regard to branding at the Sam Nujoma Stadium. I was present and very conscious throughout all those deliberations, initially on behalf of FNB Namibia and subsequently on MTC's behalf. MTC made a firm financial offer with conditions debated and accepted by the City Council. Should the NFA bosses claim selective amnesia on that score then the affairs of our football are in dangerous hands, for they might even forgot who really drove the funding transformation of football in Namibia.

3. MTC has single-handedly carried Namibian football at the most critical of moments. To claim that it is our intention to damage a game we have helped evolve is tantamount to sabotage. We are investing N$4.7 million during the 2009/10 season in the NFA's premier property, the Premier League. Next year that figure will rise by another 10%. It is also a fact that the league functions with no financial support from the NFA, and for the NFA Secretary General and fellow football bosses to disregard our investment in football will be potentially damaging to that relationship.

We also need to underscore that it is a tragedy of immense proportions when the NFA bosses choose to pick the wrong fight, through the wrong public platforms, on behalf of a sponsor who might soon be beating a hasty retreat from the Namibian soil in the not-so-distant future. This would mean that their Cup will again undergo another re-christening, as it happened last year. MTC is here to stay and invest in the long-term growth of Namibian sport as our track record has ably demonstrated.

1. MTC is ready to discuss any solution that is in the national interest, but it will only do so without unduly prejudicing its full rights. If the NFA and its sponsor are willing and able to locate our physical address in Olympia, we shall happily engage them in the interest of our 66% shareholder, which are the Namibian people through their national government.

2. We are considering all our options given that the NFA seems unhappy with our investment in Namibian football. The comments of its Secretary General on the NBC Otjiherero service on Friday evening, 30 April 2010, and all previous comments are very instructive in this regard. We shall be duty-bound to review all matters related to the partnership arrangements between the NFA (through the Premier League) and MTC.