Namibia's union under inspection
The International Rugby Board has concerns about the state of rugby in Namibia, one of the teams for their 2011 Rugby World Cup and are taking steps to see what needs doing.
According to JJ Harmse of Rapport, the IRB is set to take over the management and daily running of the Namibia Rugby Union and this could happen this month.
On Tuesday Mark Egan, the IRB's Head of Development and Performance, Jurie Roux, the SA Rugby Union's CEO and Steph Nel who is in charge of the Western Province's Rugby Institute are heading this Tuesday for Windhoek for meetings with the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU).
Part of the investigation will look into the finances of the NRU and part into the preparations for the World Cup in New Zealand.
Nel is due to take over the preparations for the World Cup. For Namibia this will be their fourth World Cup but there have been problems with the last two. In 2003 players claimed that they did not receive money promised them while some of the management enjoyed luxuries and that there were problems with kit and equipment.
In 2007 there was serious embarrassment when the NRU president, Dirk Conradie, along with his whole executive, was sent home from the tournament because of questionable procedures in the sale of World Cup tickets. It is claimed that 'millions of rands' were paid into the Conradie and Damaseb Trust Account managed by Conradie's legal firm. The amount in question was said to be N$2,8 million (ZAR2,8 million, US$389 000, GB£245 200, €286 000).
Soon afterwards, "obeying the command of the Heavenly Father", Conradie apologised to the Namibian people, the rugby people and individuals and claimed that the total of the moneys paid had since been refunded "to all concerned". At the same time Conradie refused to retire but in 2008 John Bock replaced him.
Recently there were allegations that large sums of money had disappeared from the union and that a potential sponsor Trustco had withdrawn because moneys were not being used according to agreement.