Mbada Diamonds Cup hangs in balance

Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
THE fourth edition of the country’s richest football tournament, the Mbada Diamonds Cup, hangs in the balance with the company facing financial challenges which have forced it to dump a number of community responsibility programmes among them football.Mbada Diamonds officials are set to meet the Premiership leadership within the next 10 days where they will officially terminate the relationship they established with the topflight league in 2011.

Sources close to Mbada Diamonds said despite changing the format of the fourth edition which was to be competed for by the top four teams, the tough economic environment had forced the company to prioritise its operations.

“It’s purely a business decision for the company to withdraw its sponsorship because there are operational related factors that have to be considered like the debts that they’re sitting on and imagine how their workers or business associates will feel when they hear that Mbada Diamonds is sponsoring football when they owe them. The company is prioritising its operations and football hasn’t been budgeted for but it will continue undertaking some social community responsibility programmes that are less demanding,” said a source.

Dynamos won the first two editions of the tournament with Bulawayo giants Highlanders winning the 2013 edition. Highlanders, who finished on position five last season, could not have defended their title because of the new format meaning that former champions Dynamos, ZPC Kariba, Caps United and FC Platinum would have competed in the fourth edition of the Mbada Diamonds Cup where a top four finish was a requirement.

When they announced the change of format in October last year, mining giants Mbada Diamonds re-affirmed their commitment to domestic football insisting that the Mbada Diamonds Cup would continue to be on the radar of the domestic top-flight football for a while despite challenges posed by the tough economic environment in the country.

They announced a change of format with six rounds of league matches remaining and that spiced up the championship title race.

Despite the number of games being reduced, Mbada Diamonds said there would be “something in it for everyone’’ by deciding to grant the other 12 Premiership teams that finished from fifth to 16th positions — a $10,000 cheque each as part of the $250,000 total package.

Unveiling the fourth edition package last October, Mbada Diamonds corporate services executive George Manyaya said his company remained committed to ensuring the tournament takes place as part of their mission of “Harnessing Diamonds for the people.’

“Mbada Diamonds remains committed to its social responsibility programmes and this year the Mbada Diamonds Cup is a big part of the cocktail of our programmes that we roll out year-in and year-out to strengthen the bond that binds us with communities in which we operate. As previously noted, our strategic thrust for 2014 is to heavily invest in the mining of deep-seated conglomerate and kimberlitic material, which requires an extensive capital outlay. As a result we embarked on major cost cutting initiatives that have seen us reducing budgets in all facets. It is against this background that the 2014 edition of the Mbada Diamonds Cup comes in a different but more exciting format which we believe will make a big impact on the standard of the competition,” Manyaya said.

The PSL in December said they had run out of time to deliver a tournament consistent with their event management systems and guaranteeing their sponsors the mileage they deserve.

The league president Twine Phiri said the tournament was going to be the season opener but to date nothing has been said about the event.

PSL chief executive Kennedy Ndebele yesterday referred all questions to Mbada Diamonds saying he was yet to meet his bosses to discuss this year’s calendar.

Manyaya declined to comment about the tournament saying he would do so after meeting the PSL.

“We’ve just started the year and it has been hectic. About the tournament we’re meeting PSL either this week or next week but it will be soon. Once we meet a statement will be issued,” said Manyaya.