Sports journalists body re-elect Kanjere president
Sports reporters in the country need to take sports as serious business if they are to attract support from the corporate world, Sports Writers Association of Malawi (Swam) trustees chairperson Gracian Tukula has said.
Tukula made the statement on Saturday when he closed a two-day training workshop Swam conducted at Sports Council in Blantyre with support from TNM.
He said more sponsors are not coming into sports because sometimes sports reporters portray the field as a mere child’s play or a plain ‘joke’.
“Sports is the way of life. It drives economies of some rich countries in the world. It is even more powerful than politics in terms of impact. Unless we change people’s mindset by covering sports as a serious business, we will struggle to get sponsorship for our association and sports in general,” he said.
At the end of the workshop which aimed at equipping participants with knowledge of fighting football hooliganism, Swam held elections which saw Nation Publications Limited news analyst Peter Kanjere taking the presidency.
Kanjere served as interim president since Swam’s formation three years ago. Leonard Sharra won the vice-presidency while Chisomo Mwamadi and Aston Gondwe were voted in as general secretary and vice-general secretary respectively. Chipiliro Wahara retained his position as treasurer. Committee members are Hanna Chikombole, Tiwonge Ng’ona, Asyatu Deula, Frank Kandu, Phillip Pasula and Mabvuto Kambuwe.
In his acceptance speech, Kanjere said: “We have so much work to do and our job starts now. We should not be an event-oriented organisation. We need to work hard in sports development to earn a good reputation and make Swam a vibrant organisation.”
