The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
JUST imagine winning an all-expenses-covered trip to witness the biggest football game in Southern Africa at the venue of the 2010 Fifa World Cup final just for drinking your much loved brand of alcohol then entering a competition run by Delta Beverages.
Sounds not true, right! This became a reality last Saturday when 10 Delta Beverages customers watched live the eighth edition of the Carling Black Label Cup, the clash between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium. Not only did they watch the match in person, they were flown from Harare to Johannesburg where they were they booked into a hotel in the land of gold.
The group spent about four hours at FNB Stadium on the day of the match where they occupied their own suite with the wise waters and food in unlimited supply throughout.
Drawn from most parts of the country, the consumers were rewarded for drinking Carling Black Label Beer and entering two promotions run by Delta Beverages, these being the Campus Nyts which was targeted at students at the country’s tertiary institutions and the Carling Cup, which was meant for the rest of the populace. Carling Black Label brand manager at Delta Beverages, Patience Dingani who also travelled to Mzansi said the Campus Nyts were done in June while the Carling Cup promotion ran from 11 to 14 July.
Stanley Muchenje, the Delta Beverages national sales executive and head of delegation for the trip highlighted that it was a way of rewarding their customers for being loyal to Carling Black Label Beer.
“This is our way of giving back to our customers and consumers who support us, who support brand Black Label and we believe that this is a way in which we can reward the champions who drink our beer. It’s really winners that would have participated in our competitions which we then take away to South Africa for a treat,’’ Muchenje said.
On what they hope to achieve by sending these consumers to South Africa, Muchenje pointed out that their ultimate aim is for their customers to get to experience something that is highly organised as the Carling Cup.
“We hope that they then continue loving brand Black Label but other than that, it’s also just showcasing different things that are happening in other countries so that whoever has been to the experience can also come back and hopefully be able to uplift, be they standards of sport judging from what they would have seen in SA. Like we all saw, the CBL Challenge Cup is executed in a very high international standard,’’ he said.
Besides Zimbabwe, other countries that had representation at the match were Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia.
Despite the country experiencing a tough economic environment, Muchenje said they should still be able to find it within their resources to send their customers for this once in a lifetime experience.
“Things are tough yes, it’s a strain but there are some things that are critical and to continue doing, we find it within our resources to try and keep this going, where possible. Budgetary constraints obviously permitting, we will continue doing that, as long as Black Label continues to support the Challenge Cup in South Africa.”
One of the customers, Junior Muradzikwa, a final year Banking and Finance student at the Harare Polytechnic described attending the match as the best experience ever. The 27-year-old also got to fly for the first time in her life.
“I am feeling great, it’s been the best moment ever, I am just excited, I am happy. I did enjoy the game, it was actually my first time to see this event but I got a lot of experience, I hope that next time I will come back. It was actually my first time to fly, I was a bit terrified but later I gained the strength,’’ she said.
Another student, Tinashe Mwasunda, who is doing Diesel Plant Fitting at the Bulawayo Polytechnic expressed his joy of attending the Soweto derby. The only sad part for him was that he was rooting for Kaizer Chiefs because of the two Zimbabwean players in the team, Willard Katsande and Khama Billiat.
“It was really memorable, it was actually great, I enjoyed every bit of it except the part that I was supporting Kaizer Chiefs. I was supporting Kaizer Chiefs because they have Zimbabwean players,” Mwasunda said.
Having witnessed such a magnificent event, Mwasunda is eager to return to Mzansi next year, that is if he wins again.
Such is the experience, that those who have been on this trip would love to be part of it in future.
