News / National
Prof Jonathan Moyo calls for corporate partners not personal sponsors
06 Apr 2016 at 06:41hrs | Views
HIGHER and Tertiary Education Minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo, says the Warriors need a corporate – and not a personal – sponsor and Zimbabweans should work to make the senior national team attractive to the business community.
Moyo, who was part of the crowd at the National Sports Stadium on Easter Monday to rally behind the Warriors in their make-or-break 2017 Nations Cup qualifier against Swaziland, waded into the dramatic events that saw ZIFA benefactor, Wicknell Chivayo, announce that he was withdrawing his sponsorship of the senior national team.
Chivayo announced on Monday that he was cutting direct funding of the Warriors, for this year, after having been angered by the tone of an article in The Sunday Mail which suggested that he had failed to pay coach Callisto Pasuwa his salary for two months.
The Harare businessman said he will still commit himself to paying Pasuwa's salary for a year.
Yesterday, Moyo, who was behind the creation of the Warriors Trust in 2003 which raised funds for the senior national team when Zimbabwe booked their first ticket to the Nations Cup finals, said the team needed bigger sponsors than individuals.
Most of the national teams in Africa get a huge chunk of their funding from governments and corporate partners and, recently, Bafana Bafana inked a deal with South African Airways.
Moyo, a passionate football fan who also supports English Premiership side Arsenal and his home team, Tsholotsho FC, took to Twitter and said "for sponsorship to be sponsorship it must be formal and thus contractual not personal."
Moyo added that the Warriors should rebrand and attract corporate sponsorship.
"Let's work on making the Warriors attractive to the corporate world. We have done it before and we can do it again," he wrote.
He said if the media reports that Pasuwa hadn't been paid for two years were true, then there was no need to drag it into the drama.
"Is the media report that Pasuwa hasn't been paid two months' salary true? If it is true then leave the media alone," he wrote.
However, Martin Tavakonza, reacting to the Minister on the subject on Twitter, was critical of the media in this country.
"Our greatest undoing in this country is a mediia fraternity berefet of any iota of national development ethos in its reporting," said Tavakonza.
Last week Moyo called for Government and the business community to support the national team as they seek a third time appearance at the Nations Cup.
"To me what is really remarkable is that they achieved this magnificent result which put them in the pole position without necessary support," said Moyo.
"They literally achieved this out of nothing.
"I am really praying and hoping that their success is a motivation to all of us who support football and, more importantly, those in Government and business community will now play our part by funding."
Moyo, who was part of the crowd at the National Sports Stadium on Easter Monday to rally behind the Warriors in their make-or-break 2017 Nations Cup qualifier against Swaziland, waded into the dramatic events that saw ZIFA benefactor, Wicknell Chivayo, announce that he was withdrawing his sponsorship of the senior national team.
Chivayo announced on Monday that he was cutting direct funding of the Warriors, for this year, after having been angered by the tone of an article in The Sunday Mail which suggested that he had failed to pay coach Callisto Pasuwa his salary for two months.
The Harare businessman said he will still commit himself to paying Pasuwa's salary for a year.
Yesterday, Moyo, who was behind the creation of the Warriors Trust in 2003 which raised funds for the senior national team when Zimbabwe booked their first ticket to the Nations Cup finals, said the team needed bigger sponsors than individuals.
Most of the national teams in Africa get a huge chunk of their funding from governments and corporate partners and, recently, Bafana Bafana inked a deal with South African Airways.
Moyo, a passionate football fan who also supports English Premiership side Arsenal and his home team, Tsholotsho FC, took to Twitter and said "for sponsorship to be sponsorship it must be formal and thus contractual not personal."
Moyo added that the Warriors should rebrand and attract corporate sponsorship.
"Let's work on making the Warriors attractive to the corporate world. We have done it before and we can do it again," he wrote.
He said if the media reports that Pasuwa hadn't been paid for two years were true, then there was no need to drag it into the drama.
"Is the media report that Pasuwa hasn't been paid two months' salary true? If it is true then leave the media alone," he wrote.
However, Martin Tavakonza, reacting to the Minister on the subject on Twitter, was critical of the media in this country.
"Our greatest undoing in this country is a mediia fraternity berefet of any iota of national development ethos in its reporting," said Tavakonza.
Last week Moyo called for Government and the business community to support the national team as they seek a third time appearance at the Nations Cup.
"To me what is really remarkable is that they achieved this magnificent result which put them in the pole position without necessary support," said Moyo.
"They literally achieved this out of nothing.
"I am really praying and hoping that their success is a motivation to all of us who support football and, more importantly, those in Government and business community will now play our part by funding."
Source - chronicle
