MNCS wants parastatals into sports

Madise: some of our sporting codes died
A call has been reiterated for parastatals to start sponsoring different sporting activities in the country as a way of developing games.
The call by Malawi National Council of Sports board chairperson Sunduzwayo Madise comes as a number of teams and sporting disciplines are lacking sponsorship or are being sponsored by individuals and a few corporate institutions.
Madise said: “When the parastatals stopped sponsoring sports, some of our sporting codes died and we are feeling the effect. If you recall even for netball, you will realise that the golden years of netball in the country, parastatals were organisations that were sponsoring. Now it is just a few of them and that has got an impact on how sport is going to be administered and how it will go forward.”
At the sidelines of an interaction with ESCOM officials on their operations in April 2022, energy minister Ibrahim Matola advised the power supplier, ESCOM, to start sponsoring sports in order to promote its brand and fight mental health issues.
This is part of what Matola said on the sidelines of an interaction with ESCOM officials on their operations then.
In his capacity as ESCOM acting chief executive officer then, Clement Kanyama promised to “take up the matter to the board of director on how best to support the government’s vision in this area.”
Back in the days, some statutory corporations like Malawi Development Corporation (MDC), Malawi Railways, Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) as well as Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) used to sponsor football teams playing in the Super League.
For ESCOM football club which was founded in 1992, they managed to win three super league titles in 2007, 2008 and 2010 before disbanding in 2012 while their netball side managed to produce the country’s first professional netballer Mwawi Kumwenda.