Parly in fresh push for tax rebates for sport and recreation industry

Sports Reporter

THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Sports and Recreation is set to present a motion to push for policies that will allow corporates and individual businesses that support the local sports and recreation industry to be considered for tax rebates.

Chairman of the committee Chamu Chiwanza said the move came about after the realisation that the sports and recreation industry was suffocating due to lack of funding hence the need to line up incentives to encourage investment through sponsorships, provision of equipment, facilities and many other partnerships.

“There is a motion already, which is going to be presented in the House by Honourable (Innocent) Benza, probably next week for corporates to get tax rebates. This motion is coming from this committee.”It’s already a motion which I know is going to pass through the House so that those that support sports benefit from tax rebates,” said Chiwanza.

The move is in response to a plea by the Sport and Recreation Commission, who believe tax rebates will go a long way in aiding the development of sport in the country. This comes as various sport codes have been finding it difficult to convince corporates to sponsor them.

Organisations under the sports and recreation industry have also been complaining that it is expensive to import equipment. Zimbabwe Cricket Managing Director Givemore Makoni revealed that they have penned deals with international companies like Ihsan Sports of Pakistan, who sponsor regalia for all national teams and Omtex of India, who also sponsor kits for groundsmen, but they have been finding it expensive to clear the paraphernalia once it is shipped into the country.

“Cricket is an expensive sport,” said Makoni. “A lot of the equipment is manufactured outside the country and sometimes it takes a bit of time to be cleared. In terms of the amounts that we pay to bring in the equipment, they are quite substantial.
“We have got sponsors from outside. They sponsor our kits and sometimes to clear those kits it’s a huge challenge. The figures sometimes are quite substantial.

“We don’t have a local manufacturer in terms of cricket bats. Our guys get sponsorship from outside, the likes of Ihsan Sports, Adidas, Nike and so forth. “For them to clear that equipment, it’s a long process and also expensive. Right now, we are rolling the Cricket Kumusha/Cricket Ekhaya Programme where we have identified a sponsor from outside to bring in a lot of bats that we will take to the rural schools.

“The monies that we pay to clear that equipment are quite substantial and it then ceases to be a sponsorship. You get a bat for US$30 and when you are clearing it, you probably pay another US$100. It becomes expensive,” said Makoni.

Sport is one of the fastest growing industries in the world but there have been concerns that local corporates are reluctant to sponsor local sports yet some of these companies are supporting sports financially outside the country. For over 10 years, the debate around the issue of tax rebates on corporates that support sport and recreation has been going on but with no definite conclusion.