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Senior Sports Reporter
THE Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture will next week on Wednesday hold an all stakeholders meeting in Harare where the corporate world is expected to lobby for tax rebates on companies that sponsor sport.
In an interview, Andrew Langa, the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture said it would be an all encompassing meeting with the various stakeholders expected to tackle all the problem areas.
“We will have an all stakeholders meeting with delegates coming from sport, arts and culture. As for the issue of tax rebates especially for sports sponsoring corporates, I want to assure them that they will receive our full support but for now I would rather wait and hear it coming from them on the day,” said Langa.
Unlike in other countries where any company that is involved in any form of sponsorship through its social responsibility programme gets some form of reprieve through tax rebates, companies here still find themselves parting with huge figures in the form of taxes.
There has been a huge misconception that mileage was only achieved through huge attendance figures in matches without the realisation that that does not translate into any meaningful monetary value as some giant corporate bodies are already well known worldwide.
Across the Limpopo River in South Africa, many of their sporting competitions are played in virtually empty venues, already doing away with the issue of attendance figures, but because there are huge tax rebates, companies are jostling to get involved in sponsorship.
Their packages are also very lucrative unlike locally where companies can come up with a pittance as a package.
Due to the policies in South Africa, some multinational companies that are operating even in Zimbabwe see it fit to sponsor some tournaments or individual clubs in that country than in Zimbabwe.
Online Reporter
derick.khumalo