Moorosi Tsiane
BANTU has invited former Kaizer Chiefs and Bloemfontein coach Steve Komphela as this year’s guest speaker at their annual gala dinner scheduled for 10 August in Maseru.
The former Bafana Bafana player will be flanked by the South African actress and choreographer Khabonina Qubeka.
Bantu vice president finance and marketing Molefi Lengosane said the two icons would grace the event as part of their efforts to raise funds as they prepare for the upcoming season.
He said Khompela was an easy choice as they needed someone who would motivate the players and the technical team.
“The event is meant to raise funds for the team as it prepares for the season ahead and it is important that we invite people whom we believe can pull crowds for us hence we decided to go for Steve and Khabonina,” Lengosane said.
“He (Komphela) is a good coach and a good motivational speaker, so we want him to motivate the team considering the relatively poor season we had.
“Komphela was also very impressed by our team’s performance when we played his former team Bloemfontein Celtic in our preparations for the CAF Champions’ League and he showed some interest in coming to see how we do things here.”
Lengosane said the tickets for the event have already been sold out and now they are busy preparing for the day.
“The tickets are already sold out and we are pleased by that. We used a different marketing strategy selling advertising time to corporates (three minutes for every table bought) and that worked wonders for us,” Lengosane said.
In previous years, Bantu have brought football stars such as Itumeleng Khune, George Lebese and George Maluleka while actors such as Dingaan Mokebe, known as James Motsamai and Sindi Dlathu (Thandaza) on SABC 2’s Muvhango, have graced the event.
Last year, the team brought Clement Maosa who plays Kwaito on SABC’s Skeem Sam and radio personality Dikeledi Makgongwana of Lesedi FM.
Lengosane said they would also hold a supporters’ festival on Sunday where the players and the technical team will get a chance to mingle with the supporters. The event will also be used motivate fans to vote for Bantu to get a place in the Econet Soccer Spectacular.
