Muharukua uses sports to appease disgruntled Kunene

• By Kaipaherue Kandjii

Approximately N$ 80,000 is up for grabs across various sports codes at the Vipuakuje Muharukua annual games set to take place in Opuwo, in the Kunene region.

Muharukua recently defected from the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) – which has enjoyed an iron grip on power in the Kunene region since the dawn of freedom, to join arch-rivals Swapo, a move which did not sit well with a cohort of PDM loyalists in the area – from which he also hails. Just weeks afterwards, seemingly aware of the tension, Muharukua announced the games in what is perceived as a ploy to grease the palms of those aggrieved, particularly the youthful folks.

The games, he informed Confidente in a telephonic interview on Thursday, are in no way meant to be political but merely to symbolise the freedom of one’s right to liberty.

“This games are [to be] held under the theme: Liberty. [The] personal liberty of a person, your ability to think, to do and to act in a manner that you see fit. Of course, subject to the limitations of the law and what is expected of a normal rationale fair-minded person. It is dedicated to one’s freedom. I think it is common knowledge that I now no longer at member of parliament and I have had the liberty to chose, in accordance with article 17 of our Constitution which political entity I shall follow, and I have made that public hence the dedication of the games to liberty to inspire young people to be free to choose what they want to associate with, the careers they want to do, who they want to marry, the place they want to live, all forms of freedom and liberty as enshrined in our Constitution,” Muharukua said.

So far, 28 football teams have registered to play, 14 netball teams and 24 horses – split across two races. The victors, he added, will all get trophies, medals and a monetary reward. For soccer, the reward for the winning team in the final match is N$ 20,000, the loser in the final is N$ 12,000, and the two teams in the semi-finals will get N$ 4,000.

In netball, the winners will score N$ 7 000, the second best-placed team will receive N$ 3 500, and the third best-placed team will get a N$ 2000 stipend. In addition, N$ 24,500 is up for grabs in the horse racing code for 1000-meter and 2000-meter races. In the 1000 meter, the winning horse and jockey will get N$ 5000, whilst the second-placed horse obtains N$ 3000 and N$ 2000 for the third-placed horse. The last-placed horse will receive a consolation prize of N$ 1000. Regarding the 2000-meter race, the winning horse will win N$ 6000. The lawyer, now political mastermind, says sports cut across all prejudices regardless of race, politics, or social class.

Muharukua says their presidential candidate, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, also greatly emphasises sports. “Infact, I was very very happy to see that as one of the policies of the presidential candidate of the [Swapo] Party, is to make sure that each region has a sports ground. I think her commitment to the youth and sports is that she is going to inject, if and when she is elected as president, she is going to inject something like N$ 8 billion in sports to ensure that all our regional youth and people have sports facilities and are able to play sports. That is a good initiative,” he added.  Meanwhile, football teams must pay a registration fee set at N$ 1900; netball teams must pay N$ 850 to partake, and horse racers must fork out N$ 350 to ride. “The [games] from what I am picking up on the ground are mooted to be a very, very interesting, enjoyable weekend in Opuwo. We invite everyone in Namibia to join hands with us in this fun that is going to be had by our young people. I also want to caution our attendees, spectators and sports analysts of our games that we should have a very peaceful, and event-free weekend where Namibians show love towards sports and one another. The aim of the games is not to derive a profit from them but rather we intend to use any profits, which we do not envisage to come, to embark on charitable events in and around our country as identified by the [organizing] committee,” he emphasized. Currently, Swapo leads one of the seven constituencies in Kunene: Outjo. 

PDM and the United Democratic Front (UDF) share the remainder.  PDM controls Opuwo Urban, Opuwo Rural and Epupa constituencies, while UDF controls Khorixas, Kamanjab and Sesfontein. 

 At the regional councils’ polls in 2020, Swapo’s popularity in Kunene waned. As a result, it lost the Opuwo Urban, Sesfontein, and Kamanjab constituencies.