By FELIX MALUNGA –
ZAMTEL has dropped a last minute bombshell by pulling out their US$25,000 (about K180,000) sponsorship from next week’s Mopani Copper Mines/Redpath Zambia Open Golf Championship in Kitwe.
The telecommunications company headed by Mupanga Mwanakatwe had committed itself to be a gold sponsor in the prestigious event to be staged at Nkana Golf Club.
Zamtel were earmarked to sponsor the April 21 Pro-Am, the first prelude to the Mopani/Redpath Zambia Open.
Two Pro-Ams are supposed to be held before the start of the Mopani/Redpath Zambia Open proper on April 23.
But the Zambia Open Organising Committee (ZOOC) has demanded that Zamtel should account for the shock they have caused in the collection of funds for the tournament which has the prize money of $300,000 (about K2.1 million).
ZOOC vice-chairperson-tournaments, Elario Musonda said the committee was disturbed with Zamtel’s late withdrawal after committing itself to the event which was the richest in Africa outside South Africa.
“Zamtel committed to sponsor in gold category at US$25,000. The last minute pull-out of Zamtel from sponsoring one of the Pro-Ams has come as a shocker. So that ($25,000) is what we have lost with their last minute withdrawal,” Musonda said in an interview in Kitwe yesterday.
He said ZOOC felt let down by Zamtel’s move as the committee had already started spending on advertising for the telecommunication firm.
“We feel a bit let down, the pulling out has come almost like last minute when we have already started spending. We have done the banners for Zamtel for advertising which we can’t reverse,” Musonda, who is Nkana Golf Club captain, said.
Because of Zamtel’s decision, ZOOC may not raise all the required money to meet the $1.1 million budget (about K7.9 million) for the championship and Musonda indicated that his team would demand that the firm recoup some of the costs implications incurred so far.
He, however, said title sponsors, Mopani and Redpath had since taken up the sponsorship of the Pro-Am and assured the golfing fraternity that preparations for the Zambia Open would not be disturbed.
“The title sponsors, Mopani and Redpath are going to do the Pro-Am which could have been taken by Zamtel. But we are going to demand that Zamtel pay back some of the costs incurred so far. We are definitely going to look at how we can recoup the cost implications that their withdrawal has caused to us.
“The reason why we are saying we are shocked and a bit disturbed is that Zamtel committed itself to an extent that we even had all documentation sent to them including invoices. We are pursuing ways to get Zamtel to account for the shock that they have caused in the collection of funds,” Musonda, who is also Zambia Golf Union (ZGU) executive member north, said.
On the reasons for Zamtel’s withdrawal, the ZOOC vice-chairperson said: “The reasons (for pulling out) are not very clear and they are better placed to talk about those.”
While Mopani and Redpath will take care of the first Pro-Am, MTN Zambia and EC Mining are the co-sponsors for the second warm-up event on April 22.
On Wednesday, ZOOC chairperson, Emmanuel Mutati announced that his team had raised 97.5 per cent of the $1.1 million budget (about K7.9 million) after Standard Chartered Bank donated K143,028 but the pulling out of Zamtel could now reduce that figure.
The Mopani/Redpath Zambia Open Championship to be contested by 144 golfers from across the globe will run from April 23-26.