Tigresses lose Bingu sponsorship

Bingu Tigresses will now be known as Tigresses following Bineth Trust’s withdrawal of sponsorship with immediate effect.

Tigresses manager Hellene Mpinganjira on Wednesday confirmed receiving an e-mail from Tapiwa Mutharika, who is chairperson of the trust, notifying them about the development.

This is a huge blow to Tigresses as they are struggling to pay back over K1 million (about $2 500) debt incurred since the sudden death of their benefactor, former president Bingu wa Mutharika, in April last year.

The Presidential Netball champions got a surprise K10 million (about $25 000) per year sponsorship package and a bus from the former president in 2009 following an invitation to State House in Lilongwe.

“We just got an e-mail from Tapiwa on Monday and we are devastated. We do not know what to do. But we will try our best to cope with our latest status,” she lamented.

Part of Tapiwa’s e-mail reads: “Following the passing [of the former President] and the present political climate, we are battling to just keep the legacy going. We would have loved to continue the sponsorship.”

Attempts to get a comment from Tapiwa on Wednesday proved futile as several calls to her mobile phone went unanswered.

However, Mpinganjira pleaded with the trust to at least let them keep the bus which is reportedly parked at Bineth Trust premises in Blantyre and has been repainted.

Despite the late Mutharika permanently giving the bus to Tigresses, the team cannot claim ownership as no change of documents was done to ensure it became the team’s property.

“We are thankful to the trust for continuing to support us after the death of our sponsor. We understand their reasons for pulling out sponsorship.

“Nevertheless, we plead with them to allow us keep the bus so that it can help us in income generation,” Mpinganjira said.

But as they try to cope with their current status, Tigresses players and administrators will probably reminisce the moment they had lunch with the late Mutharika at the State House about four years ago.

Then, dressed in cream blouses and black trousers, they cheered, ululated and exploded into a joyous chorus Taliwona dzanja la Ambuye as they received their first package plus K100 000 (about $250) for each player before posing for a photo with the former number one citizen.

Before late Mutharika’s sponsorship, Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) bankrolled the team.