Zamtel has donated K150, 000 towards the hosting of the Netball World Cup qualifier tournament scheduled for 13th August to 18th August, 2018.

Zamtel Head of Marketing Shibeza Ngoma said Zamtel values all sports in the country including those labelled minor.

Speaking to the media today in Lusaka when he presented the cheque to Sports minister Moses Mawere, Mr Ngoma said Zamtel would continue to find ways of always adhering to its social corporate responsibility programmes especially through sports.

“We have partnered with a number of associations in the country which include Football Association of Zambia, Swimming Association of Zambia and most recent the just ended Chova cycling competition that was held in Eastern province, Chipata. There are other sporting activities that we sponsor every now and the and I can gladly say that we have not regretted any of it,” Ngoma said.

The marketing manager also underscored the importance of investing in youths involved in sports.

He said talent has the potential to better the productivity of a person hence the need to sustain and improve.

Speaking at the same event, Sports minister Moses Mawere commended Zamtel for supplementing government’s efforts in improving sports in the country.

The minister revealed that government had a budget of K2 million to be met for a successful hosting of the netball tournament and that it was struggling to raise the money.

He acknowledged that the money Zamtel donated would reduce the shortfall to a lesser amount that other cooperating partners could cover.

“We only have a few days before the tournament yet we have not met the budget set for the successful hosting of the tournament. We will look for more sponsors and even go back to Zamtel so that they can revise the amount rendered to us,” said Mawere.

The minister further urged the netball national team to maintain the Zambian sports trend of hosting and winning the tournament and ultimately qualify for netball world cup in Liverpool next year.

“Zambia has always been known for hosting and winning tournaments and I want the trend to be maintained in netball too,” urged Mawere.