Black Africa need investors

BLACK Africa chairman Kandas Paulino argues that the club will die a silent death if they do not consider bringing investors on board soon.

The Namibia Premier League (NPL) outfit has been without a sponsor for over a decade now and its fan base has dwindled, while its efforts to capture the league title have not paid off for more than ten years. Black Africa, fondly known as the ‘Lively Lions’, also failed to land major cup competitions in recent times and according to Paulino, the current status of the club has led to this “unfortunate” situation.He argues that the club has lost and will be losing some of its key players to other clubs, which are handsomely rewarding them for their efforts.Black Africa, Tigers and African Stars are among the oldest clubs in the country and have so far struggled to turn around their financial fortunes because they are community-owned teams.Orlando Pirates, which earlier found itself in a similar position, have now hit the limelight again and last season won their first league title in over 50 years, after businessman Hendrik Dawids took over as the sole investor.Tigers recently agreed to go the commercial route, while Stars still have to sort out their house.Paulino rejected rumours that the club will be sold to Namibian athletics legend Frank Fredericks for over N$1 million.”There is no such thing and no such talk.I don’t think Frank will want to come back after what the supporters did to us back in 2001 when they re-took the club despite agreeing that it get fully commercialised,” he said.In 1999, Paulino, Fredericks, Broertjie Swarts and Aunt Ricky Fredericks (Frank’s mother) wanted the club to get commercialised and proposed to invest N$100 000 at the time.Their proposal was accepted but there was no owner to receive the money from the investors, and the money was subsequently put into the club’s bank account.The deal by the four did not last long as the community members wanted the club back and also forced the new owners to pay the players.The agreement ultimately fell through in 2001 despite considerable progress made by the four new owners at the time, while they also had Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) as a technical sponsor then.All four pulled out of the deal and took their money, but Paulino opted to come back again in 2004.At the moment, he is chairing the executive committee with Cassius Moetie, Indies Damaseb, Five Hochobeb and Hinky Theodor as the other members.WILL BE LEFT BEHIND Paulino says at this stage, there is no choice for the club but to become a commercial entity.”We will be left behind and we need to act now.We could have been far by now if the community did not demand the team back in 2001.We made so much progress and we had a lot of success in cup competitions and we had great plans for the club,” he said.He added that the club’s operational costs are at least N$300 000 per season.”We cannot afford to keep on taking money out of our pockets.We need investors who can take over and make the best of the team.At the moment, there is no return on our investments we make.We have to open up again for commercialisation and it will see more benefits coming our way, especially for the players,” he said.Black Africa ended in mid-table last season.Black Africa, fondly known as the ‘Lively Lions’, also failed to land major cup competitions in recent times and according to Paulino, the current status of the club has led to this “unfortunate” situation.He argues that the club has lost and will be losing some of its key players to other clubs, which are handsomely rewarding them for their efforts.Black Africa, Tigers and African Stars are among the oldest clubs in the country and have so far struggled to turn around their financial fortunes because they are community-owned teams.Orlando Pirates, which earlier found itself in a similar position, have now hit the limelight again and last season won their first league title in over 50 years, after businessman Hendrik Dawids took over as the sole investor.Tigers recently agreed to go the commercial route, while Stars still have to sort out their house.Paulino rejected rumours that the club will be sold to Namibian athletics legend Frank Fredericks for over N$1 million.”There is no such thing and no such talk.I don’t think Frank will want to come back after what the supporters did to us back in 2001 when they re-took the club despite agreeing that it get fully commercialised,” he said.In 1999, Paulino, Fredericks, Broertjie Swarts and Aunt Ricky Fredericks (Frank’s mother) wanted the club to get commercialised and proposed to invest N$100 000 at the time.Their proposal was accepted but there was no owner to receive the money from the investors, and the money was subsequently put into the club’s bank account.The deal by the four did not last long as the community members wanted the club back and also forced the new owners to pay the players.The agreement ultimately fell through in 2001 despite considerable progress made by the four new owners at the time, while they also had Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) as a technical sponsor then.All four pulled out of the deal and took their money, but Paulino opted to come back again in 2004.At the moment, he is chairing the executive committee with Cassius Moetie, Indies Damaseb, Five Hochobeb and Hinky Theodor as the other members.WILL BE LEFT BEHIND Paulino says at this stage, there is no choice for the club but to become a commercial entity.”We will be left behind and we need to act now.We could have been far by now if the community did not demand the team back in 2001.We made so much progress and we had a lot of success in cup competitions and we had great plans for the club,” he said.He added that the club’s operational costs are at least N$300 000 per season.”We cannot afford to keep on taking money out of our pockets.We need investors who can take over and make the best of the team.At the moment, there is no return on our investments we make.We have to open up again for commercialisation and it will see more benefits coming our way, especially for the players,” he said.Black Africa ended in mid-table last season.