Long walk, but no sponsor yet
Dumisani Ncube | Thursday March 16, 2017 15:15
So far separate entities and various individuals have supported Kast to complete his walk but no big sponsors have come forward to finance the main Tlatsa Lebala event scheduled for May 6.
From the two gentlemen at Keno Suits who first gave Kast his walking shoes to start the walk, everyone has been supporting Kast to complete his walk rather than the main event itself. Air Botswana gave the Sejabana rapper a free flight from Gaborone to Maun.
After the walk started a lot of people joined Kast on the way and others showed support by giving him water, energy drinks and food. Botswana Medical Associations supported the rapper by providing doctors to do medical checks and ensure medical fitness on the walking team. More people started pouring in to support the walk and Majestic Five hotel in Palapye reserved accommodation for the bearded rapper upon his arrival in the village. Sprint Couriers helped with the delivery of snacks and beverages when he passed by Phuduhudu.
Kast was still pushing people to sponsor kilometres in his walk and it became successful when a fellow Motswana Rejoice Neal became the first person to sponsor. Other supporters paid for Kast’s accommodation along the way. Other artists like Apollo D even supported Kast to do the walk. Kast was also able to do live videos on Facebook courtesy of Botswana Hotspots. They even surprised him by bringing his family and booking accommodation at Thapama Lodge.
Political figures also started coming out to support Kast’s long walk. Mayor of Gaborone Kagiso Thutlwe swore to join Kast upon his arrival and prepare a proper welcome party. Minister of Basic Education Unity Dow pledged to help with P5,000. Minister of Health Dorcus Makgato bought tickets for lucky winners on social media while former vice president Ponatshego Kedikile gave words of wisdom.
Duma FM pledged to give Kast P10,000 worth of advertising airtime. Yarona FM topped it with P150,000 radio airtime. Yoli jeans clothing pledged to give Kast a sponsorship of P20,000 to make preparation for the event. BNSC has even confirmed that they have availed the stadium at no cost. Funimotions Company is printing Kast Tlatsa Lebala merchandise and they are being sold at Urban Soul stores. Just recently successful local artists Vee donated P40,000 to Tlatsa Lebala.
Above all the support and pledges from the members of the public, rapper Kast’s 1000 km walk is coming to an end tomorrow when he arrives in Gaborone and there is still no sponsor for Tlatsa Lebala.
“All the pledges that Kast has been receiving have been going mainly towards the walk because it has been costly on its own. We still in need of an event sponsor for Tlatsa Lebala, we are supposed to pay for various costs for the event to be a success, we have approached a number of corporates for sponsorship,” said the Tlatsa Lebala project manager Masie Hule.
He noted that the total amount of funds raised so far is P46,000 excluding the P40,000 that Vee recently pledged. “Vee gave us P30,000 worth of performance and P10,000 cash.”
Hule noted that for the event to be a success they need an amount of P900,000 unlike the P1,800,000 that was previously mentioned by Kast.
Making a breakdown of the stadium costs he noted that Tlatsa Lebala requires P121,000 to cover costs such as lights, water bill, turf labour, forklift and refundable security fee.
Hule noted that at this stage they are not being choosy on the sponsors that will come through for the event that they could come in different forms.
“This morning the whole crew went to church at Family of God Church in Palla Road, dilo ga di tsamae sentle, soon I'll be concluding my 1000 km walk, which I had hoped would raise awareness and prompt sponsors support, but to date I only have mostly service, or in kind pledges, zero sponsor yet towards the festival. So we had to come here and pray for guidance and light. Today the church pledged the offerings they had collected to us. Blessings. Powerful sermon, (sic),” said Kast in one of his Tlatsa Lebala walk daily updates on Facebook a few days ago.
Speaking to Showbiz during a phone call interview when the rapper was walking from Debete to Artesia he noted that his team has been approaching a number of potential sponsors for the event but none of them has come out to say they will be the official sponsor of Tlatsa Lebala.
“We need more commitment, we need decision makers, government officials and corporates to assist with sponsorship of the event. So far what we have at the moment can capacitate us to host the event but we need more funds to make it a high quality production,” Kast said.
Despite stating that walking all the way from Maun by foot has been hectic he noted that the love and support that he has been getting from people along the road and those that have been giving out pledges has been unbelievable.
On Friday night he will camp at Rasesa and depart on Saturday from the Morwa turn and walk all the way to Gaborone till he joins the western by pass to Riverwalk mall, which is his final stop.