Motorsport awaiting NSC green light

By Michael Uugwanga

THE Namibia Motorsport Federation (NMSF) is still waiting for approval from the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) to start with its activities amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Due to Covid-19, 2020 has been a huge challenge financially due to the loss of income from events which could not take place. Our motorsport year barely started when it had to stop and we only managed to host eight events,” said Derek Jacobs, development officer at NMSF.

Namibia is currently under stage four of the state of emergency, which gives green light for the resumption of sport activities under strict conditions; except for Walvis Bay, Swakopmund and Arandis as the three towns are still under stage three due to the increasing cases of Covid-19.

Just like the rest of the sporting industry, Covid-19 has tremendously affected motorsport.

The notable popular motorsport activities in the country are spinning, endure, drag racing, off-road rally, karters and rally marshals.

Despite the growth in the sport, motorsport still has a long way of establishing itself as one of the leading code in the country.

“Over the last three years, the federation has tripled its membership and the number of events grew from 63 to 134. The federation was formed in 1983. Motorsport in Namibia is visible and has a distinct following. Unfortunately motorsport is extremely expensive compared to rugby, football, netball and cricket so these sport codes will always enjoy more publicity. The NMSF makes use of all media platforms available to create awareness but we also have to compete against the other codes and don’t always enjoy same exposure that they do despite the federation trying to make it visible,” added Jacobs.