Moorosi Tsiane
DEFENDING Vodacom Premier League champions, Bantu, will take their annual gala dinner event in a different direction by hosting a South African tax rebate expert as part of a drive to woo sponsors.
For the past five years, the dinner has been graced by South African soccer and showbiz celebrities such as Kaizer Chiefs stars, Itumeleng Khune, George Lebese, George Maluleke as well as soap stars, Sindi Dlathu, Dingaan Mokebe and Palo Mokoailane (all from the popular Muvhango series).
Bantu vice president Molefi Lengosane recently told the Sunday Express that in addition to bringing soap stars, they felt it would be helpful to bring someone who would also help them in getting more sponsors.
“Football has turned into a business and we are working on turning this team into a professional outfit,” Lengosane said, adding, “It is clear that we can’t achieve that without the input of the corporate sector which has been a problem in the country”.
“So we decided to bring in someone who is based in South Africa to share with us how the tax rebate works that side so that local businesses might learn how to make the tax rebate work in their favour.
“In South Africa companies fight to sponsor football teams but it is a different case here so we need to understand how this things works hence we invited the expert.”
Lengosane also said some showbiz celebrities would grace the event but said their identities would only be revealed once everything had been finalised.
“This is a fund raising event for the club so we will still be bringing in celebrities as crowd pullers and there will also be local celebrities. I can’t reveal the names of the celebrities who will be attending because nothing has been finalised.”
He also said that they were using the event to lure new sponsors, adding they had invited companies to buy tables and they would demonstrating to them that Bantu was a brand they had to be associated with.
“This initiative has been a success ever since we started it and we need to redouble our efforts every year to ensure it grows bigger.
This year’s event is not an exception. We are working hard to make it a success,” Lengosane concluded.