We want funding policy: SRC

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
THE Sport and Recreation Commission says Government must urgently draft a major policy that outlines how sport in this country can be funded and help the numerous associations that are facing serious viability problems and struggling to cater for national teams.
Zimbabwe Rugby Union this week became the latest association to reveal that they are broke and are struggling to prepare the senior men’s team for their Africa Cup tournament in Madagascar at the end of this month.

That tournament, scheduled for June 28, will also serve as the African qualifiers for the 2015 World Cup but such is the story state of affairs at ZRU that the Sables are still having to train in two batches, one in Bulawayo and another in the capital, at a crucial time when they needed to bond as team and work under the close scrutiny of one technical crew.

All the plans that the Sables had put in place in order to be ready for the Madagascar assignment have had to be scrapped because of lack of funds ZRU’s gloomy story comes at a time when Zimbabwe Cricket and Zifa have also hit the headlines for the wrong reasons following revelations that they are broke and have failed to sustain their respective national teams’ activities.

It is against this background that Sports Commission corporate communications executive Tirivashe Nheveyembwa yesterday called on the government to put in place a clear policy on how best sport in the country can be funded.

Nheveyembwa said the Sports Commission had received numerous appeals from their affiliate associations seeking government support through the supreme sports body.
But it has emerged that neither the Sports Commission nor the parent Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture have the resources to assist the associations.

“Ordinarily our national teams are supposed to be supported, especially those taking part in such competitions like the World Cup or Nations Cup or Africa Cup, but the situation we are in as a country is very tough.

“As SRC we have to continue lobbying the parent Ministry for resources to assist our member associations. Unfortunately the parent Ministry indicated that they are also facing challenges with funding.

“Inasmuch as the situation is bad, we will continue to try and secure some help. It is really a matter of resources and the Minister (Andrew Langa) alluded to that last year when he indicated that the willingness to support national teams is there but a budget cannot be set aside for now due to inadequate resources.

“This is why I think we need to come up with a clear-cut funding model and we could maybe take a cue from countries like South Africa where apart from sponsorships and money from TV rights they also get a huge chunk of funds from the Lotto and that is the kind of route we ought to take.

“In as much as we might want government support, government alone cannot be the funder and we should assess the possible revenue streams that are there and check which ones are being implemented.

“But we have noted with concern the similarity in the problems being faced by associations,’’ Nheveyembwa said.

There have been suggestions too that the SRC should consider waiving or reducing the levies that they charge on associations as part of efforts to help such bodies like Zifa.
The Commission gets six percent of gross from every competitive football match staged in the country.

But it is the need to address the plight of sporting associations that needs urgent attention if Zimbabwe’s athletes are to become proper ambassadors of the country in regional, continental and global competitions.

Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Education, Sport, Arts and Culture chairman Temba Mliswa has also been on record advocating for allocation of more resources to associations in order for them to develop competitive national teams.

Mliswa told national radio that his committee had resolved to monitor and investigate operations of such associations like Zifa before making their recommendations on the way forward to government.

It is also expected that Mliswa’s committee would during their tenure in the August House initiate moves to amend the Sports Act and also bring in new regulations that would spur greater private sector investment in sport.

Some of the initiatives which could be undertaken by Parliament would be to push for the removal of excise duty on sports equipment as well significant tax incentives for companies that would have chosen to partner the different sporting disciplines.