Marole's Plea To BNSC

MOSAH MOKGANEDI
Correspondent | Monday July 12, 2010 00:00

 

'We all want to be associated with winners, not perpetual losers,' Marole said. He said there is need to come up with better-performing national teams at international level. Marole said though the private sector has made remarkable progress in helping the government sponsor sports, regrettably the results in competitions are not good. He was speaking at the BNSC sponsors' night. Different sponsors were honoured at the function for their support in 2009. 

Marole said sponsors get into partnerships largely to increase their business opportunities and to improve their image. He said everything is possible as countries like Uruguay have shown by reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup.

He said Uruguay is not very different from Botswana in terms of population because it has about three million people. 'My view is that we need to do things different from what we are doing now,' Marole said. He said it is time sponsors spent millions in sports rather than thousands. 'It is time for us to take a break and seriously introspect,' he said.

He thanked all who have made a contribution in the development of sports in the country. 'I believe that their involvement in sports is largely driven by their love for their country and for this, I wish to applaud them,' he said.  Speaking at the event, BNSC chairperson Daniel Tau thanked sponsors for always standing by them even when the going got tough. 'We would have not made it without you,' he said.

He said companies benefit from sponsoring sports through tax rebates.  Tau thanked institutions that continue to allow the BNSC and its affiliates to use their facilities. He appealed to the government to build more sports facilities to host international competitions. 'I also want to assure you that we are working on enhancing packaging our sponsorship request and we hope that you will continue to open your doors for us,' he said.