Loss of sponsors hits BFA finances
Mqondisi Dube | Wednesday August 17, 2016 15:12
“We didn’t do well this year compared to last year. We are P5.1 million in the red due to loss of sponsorships from Orange and BancABC,” Motlogelwa said.
In 2016, BFA’s income was P21.9 million compared to last year’s P27.2 million. The expenditure for this year was P32.5 million compared to P26 million last year.
Motlogelwa attributed the lower income to the absence of sponsorship money, lack of funds from FIFA, which the BFA received last year as bonus accruing from the 2014 World Cup held in Brazil.
Revenue from the gates was lower this year compared to 2015 when the Zebras played the Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifiers. This year there has been less national team activity.
BFA receives most of its income from FIFA, Botswana National Sport Commission grants, sponsorships and national team gate-takings.
“The other difference is from FIFA where we had received a bonus from the Brazil World Cup but this year we got just P250,000,” Motlogelwa said. The BNSC grant improved from just above P7 million to P8 million this year.
Owing to fewer Zebras games this year, the BFA received only P50,000 from CAF compared to P1.6 million last year.
The 22% increase in expenditure from P26 million to P32.5 million is largely due to legal cases pending before the courts, staff costs of P1.2 million and tax penalties linked to the Botswana Premier League.
The BFA has a pending case against former Zebras number two, Pio Paul and Pula Sports Marketing, and just above P3 million has been budgeted for the cases in the event they are ruled against the association.
The tax penalties arise from delays from the BPL in paying Value Added Tax (VAT) and income tax.
“The tax penalties are linked to the BPL,” Motlogelwa said, “and as you know we are the contracting party and that’s why some of these costs are brought to our account as the motherbody.”
He decried the national teams taking a big chunk of the BFA costs.“We were depending on sponsors we don’t have, so we had to fund the teams somehow. The Under-23 played in the Olympic qualifiers and the expenses were high.”
BFA payables were P9.5 million last year, but increased to P16 million this year, while the value of assets for both years has remained at P12 million.
“Assets have slightly gone down. It’s just depreciation. We fenced our ground at Lekidi and the asset value sits at P12 million for both years. Hard cash in the bank last year was P7.1 million and this year it is P3.3 million. The major difference is the FIFA bonus,” he said.
The budget for this year is P45 million with projected revenue from BNSC (P8 million) FIFA grants (P12.5 million), CAF (P2.5 million) and sponsorships (P14 million) among others.
The projected expenditure is P46.2 million, including national team’s budget.