Samantha at the NHA, resigned today with immediate effect.
The international committee have given the NHA four months to get their act together and produce a return of mares and collate and register ALL imported horses in this country, which has not been done for years( countries are supposed to produce a return every four years) or there will be an investigation. This will result in all SA horses being downgraded to “non thoroughbreds”as far as the rest of the world is concerned. We will loose our grade one place in the pattern book and it won’t matter a damn if they do sort out the export protocols as no one will buy from a country where group races will not be recognised.
If this is true, the implications are catastrophic for the industry. It is clear that the workings of the NHRA have become shambolic and this is not a surprise given the appointment of a change agent to lead an organisation of which he has no background in and no experience in. Any normal individual in this situation would covet his staff who have experience and who could guide him. Not Lyndon. He has been on a crusade to get his Employment Equity figures correct, and this has come at a massive price. The exiting of white personnel with the necessary experience and replacing them with people of colour without the necessary experience, without giving proper training and hands-on time has come to bite him, and bite him hard. He is also apparently also dictatorial and its his way or the highway. He also is said to give intense management input to certain individuals if you get my drift and these individuals never have to stand in the Q. A short time back Judy was forced out with her years of experience, now Samantha has gone the same route. Both were marginalised. This is a catastrophe created by Barends.
My question is what are the NHRA board going to do about this? The times are right for a vote of no confidence in Barends and his exit is warranted to save the sinking ship. If I were a breeder I would be demanding action. My livelihood is being seriously threatened by a politically appointed incompetent.
This has the potential to be an absolute disaster and is shocking to say the least. Was this not very similar to what David Allen has been on about for months now? How people of the ilk of Samantha and Judy were allowed to walk away is still a mystery. I sincerely hope this ship can find its buoyancy as a matter of urgency. 4 months is not a lot of a time to catch up and save an industry. Seems the AHS export protocols are the least of our worries at this time.
Personally I have a strong sense that this is just one small indicator of a barrage of problems which have been ignored in this industry for over 15 or so years.. this is a unique industry with a unique set of skills required to lead it through the worldwide apathy and declining interest it is facing. As people who put into this industry we expect transparency at all levels.. from the way in which grooms are treated to how the operators manage the stakes and expenses. Things have changed and this industry calls for a top outside look into structures, how they run, efficiency rates, loopholes, possible conflicts of interest etc etc. It is not good enough just to say that's someone else's job, the industry structure as it sits now needs to be looked at in depth .. there are just too many tensions between the different stakeholders which can only be a symptom of people or groups pulling in different directions. And that in any business or industry if allowed to continue will eventually cause a collapse especially when transparency is questioned.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Over the Air, drdom
It disappoints me that the views on the site are frowned on by the racing big guns, ignoring what we do to promote racing.
At the same time the highly paid executives that should be running the show, run their departments in line with SA government, with no accountability for failure.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Muhtiman, oscar, Over the Air
.....and to add.....apart from having highly paid positions..... have their fat fingers in other pies...
and have used their positions and benefits derived from these positions to capitalize on approving and/or providing sub standard product/services..... at a great expense to the industry....and they are the only few able to profit by doing so.... :S
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