By Sisipho Sofisa and Luvuyo Mjekula
The province-wide MTN8 trophy tour made a brief stop in Makhanda yesterday (Thursday), less than a month before the highly anticipated final between Orlando Pirates and Stellenbosch FC in Durban.
The big clash is set to take place at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday, 5 October.
Former professional footballers, Nathan Paulse and Njabulo Manqana, who the tour’s ambassadors, led the trophy tour, accompanied by MTN’s senior manager for sponsorship and events, Bongani Ntshingila, and other MTN staffers.
The two legends both won the MTN8 tournament with their respective teams and made a name for themselves in the game. Paulse led Ajax Cape Town FC to victory with a penalty winner against Kaiser Chiefs FC at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in the 2015 final, while Manqana scored a wonder “snake” goal for Golden Arrows in their final against Ajax Cape Town. The goal earned him the nickname Snake.
The legends and the MTN team, had departed from Johannesburg and spent the whole of Wednesday in Gqeberha before heading to Makhanda on Thursday. They held media activations at the Rhodes Music Radio (RMR) studio before Grocott’s Mail caught up with them.
Ntshingila told Grocott’s Mail that as part of their sponsorship strategy, MTN relied on three pillars to deliver on its promise to be proud sponsors of South African football. The fist pillar is enabling football lovers and fans to have access to the football legends, a different experience from just seeing them on TV. “It’s about enabling football lovers, fans to have greater access to the football stars that they have never seen before or spoken to before, which is bring people closer to the passion that they like. It is very different to watching people playing on TV and in stadiums, but when you get to engage with them and speak to them and start to understand them on a personal level,” Ntshingila explained. He also spoke about the fans’ access to the trophy. “We want people to see the real trophy, it’s not a dummy, it’s the real thing.”
From a transformation perspective, Ntshingila spoke about the campaigns throughout the competition. These include the Last Fan Standing where a fan wins R1m, the Last Legend Standing who wins R180 000 for the charity of their choice, as well as the Last Journalist Standing. MTN also runs a legacy project with Dream Bags. “We visit schools and hand over equipment and conduct coaching clinics. The purpose is giving back and upflifting the community.”
From Makhanda, the tour would head to East London and then Mthatha before they return to Johannesburg as the build up to the MTN 8 final picks up.
The times and tickets for the two big fixtures, home and away, are not out yet, but the details will be confirmed on Monday.
