Namibia Rugby Union board resigns months away from crucial World Cup qualifiers

The entire Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) board has resigned from office with immediate effect just four months away from the upcoming crucial 2023 Rugby World Cup Qualifiers that are set to be held in July 2022 in France.

In a letter signed by the now ex-NRU president Corrie Mensah, on behalf of the board, the members officially handed their resignation on 15 March 2022 stating that their aim was to safeguard their reputation which had come under threat from a section of top teams in the Namibian league who intended to pass a motion of no confidence against the President.

“This letter serves as an official notice from the Namibia Rugby Union Board to resign on 15 March 2022. The resignation was necessitated to safeguard the Board's reputation and rugby in general due to a motion of no confidence in the President from certain premier league clubs,” they wrote to the CEO of NRU.

Having been elected in 2018, the board resigned ahead of next month's annual general meeting where the motion of no confidence in the leadership was the primary agenda point.

“The said motion presented under Article 35 (2) of the NRU Constitution was tabled for the the Union's upcoming AGM scheduled for 9 April 2022, and submitted with no substantive reason for such action. In accordance with the constitution, should two-thirds of the Members vote in favour of this motion, this will not only result in the removal of the President, but the whole Board shall cease to hold office with immediate effect in which an Extra-Ordinary General Meeting for the re-constitution or election of the Board should be held. A notice period of 30 days is required to convene an Extra-Ordinary meeting,” they said.

Despite the board stating the motion was unlikely to be a success, they stated they would not counter it and would not stay due to the ‘conditions of mistrust and division’ that would make it impossible to achieve common ground.

"Although we are of the opinion that it is unlikely that the motion will pass with the two thirds majority, the Board has no intentions of embarking on a campaign to counter the motion and would therefore opt to step down for the benefit of the sport, its reputation and athletes who may be impacted, should further disputes arise from this motion. The Board would like to avoid a similar situation presently experienced by other sports codes concerning the division in leadership. Our decision not to contest was also attributed to the damage caused to the Board's integrity and trust. As a result, we believe that it would not be conducive for the Board to continue under these conditions of mistrust and division as there would be no common ground," the letter concluded.

In the African qualifiers set to take place in France this July, Namibia, who are the second best ranked country on the continent behind reigning champions South Africa, will play with Burkina Faso in the quarterfinals of the 8 team tournament which will see winners book an automatic place in the prestigious 2023 Rugby World Cup that will also be played in France.

Kenya, who are also gunning for a historic appearance at the World Cup, are also in the tournament where they will play fierce rivals Uganda.

Quarter-Final Fixtures

QF 1: Namibia vs Burkina Faso

QF 2: Zimbabwe vs Cote d’Ivoire

QF 3: Senegal vs Algeria

QF 4: Uganda vs Kenya