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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
HIGHLANDERS’ members have questioned the club’s decision to give mobile network operator NetOne free mileage after Bosso wore a NetOne branded kit in their opening Chibuku Super Cup match against Bulawayo Chiefs at Barbourfields Stadium last Sunday.

NetOne terminated its sponsorship of Bosso in April last year, stating that it wanted to channel resources towards the fight against Covid-19 and immediately bought out the partnership.

Bosso also parted ways with sportswear manufacture Roar before unveiling UK-based sports apparel OTB Looks as their new technical partners.

The deal OTB Looks deal is worth US$300 000 over three years.

Highlanders’ members took to social media to voice their unhappiness at the continued use of NetOne branded kits when the club and company ended their relationship more than a year ago.

“Netone terminated their sponsorship of Highlanders early last year, and at the end of last year signed a partnership with a UK company OTB to supply kit for the club six months after losing the NetOne sponsorship. A year later, Highlanders are using the new OTB Looks kit with the NetOne brand in official games.

“Are we missing something here? This is a scandal; why should the club give free mileage to a huge company like NetOne? This is a company which abandoned Bosso in the middle of nowhere without a sponsor.

This is a company making millions of dollars daily yet Highlanders keep marketing it with no financial gain or any form of benefit. Something is not adding up; poor business all day long,” Bosso member Ezra ‘Tshisa’ Sibanda wrote on Facebook.
Another member Blessing Moyo accused the administration of incompetence.

“That’s incompetence in administration; total ignorance. Why advertise a company that dumped our club? It’s better to use unlabelled kit if there is no sponsorship,” wrote Moyo.

Ntozakhe Khumalo said while he wasn’t privy to behind-the-scenes activities, he was convinced something wasn’t adding up.
Other members and supporters suggested that probably certain individuals within the Bosso structures were personally benefitting from this strange arrangement.

However, Highlanders’ spokesperson Ronald Moyo sought to defend the NetOne branded kit, saying they had already been made when the mobile network operator cut ties last year.

“The relationship is that they are our immediate former main sponsor. When they bought out the partnership, the kits had already been printed,” said Moyo.

He said once the club finds a new sponsor or anyone interested in buying the space, the NetOne logo will be removed, but at the moment Bosso weren’t losing anything by continued use of the kit.

“At the moment we haven’t found a new sponsor or anyone interested in buying that space, so we lose nothing by having our former sponsor on our chests in a scenario where the kits were already printed when the agreement was mutually terminated.

Our approach has been that we maintain relations with our former partners and sponsors because this becomes a spiderweb of our networks. In any case, the same NetOne paid the club in 2020, but did not get the mileage they had paid for,” said Moyo.

But former Bosso chairman and marketing expert, Themba Ndlela, said there was no justification whatsoever to continue using a NetOne branded kit when the company no longer sponsors the club.

“NetOne did not demand this free mileage, but it’s just Bosso giving them that. Highlanders must simply change that kit or if they have not been supplied with another set, they should cover that NetOne logo. OTB Looks must supply the club with a new kit every year,” said Ndlela.

“The club cannot use an old kit in a new season because there is the issue of new players joining, hence the requirement for the sponsor to provide a new kit every year throughout their tenure as kit sponsors.”

He also warned about potential risks associated with using NetOne branded kit when no formal agreement was in place.

“Highlanders risks the danger of being dragged to court by NetOne for bringing their name into disrepute should there be violence or other bad things during a match and the NetOne name appears during those skirmishes. No sponsor wants their name to be dragged into any mess, and just imagine when a company’s brand is soiled when it has nothing to do with the club,” Ndlela said.
NetOne did not respond to Chronicle Sport inquiries over the issue.