TNM deny favouring Bullets promo

TNM, sponsors of the flagship Super League, have clarified as to why they seem to be supporting Big Bullets’ CAF Champions League SMS promotion than Be Forward Wanderers’ ‘Noma Yathu’ promotion.

TNM’s public relations and sponsorship manager Limbani Nsapato was reacting to Wanderers’ claims that their SMS promotion did not get the same support of their rivals despite using the same network.

“The original concepts of the ‘NomaYathu’ and Big Bullets promotions are different. NomaYathu was initiated by Be Forward Wanderers and TNM came in to support the promotion on the basis of Wanderers being one of our dealers.

“On the other hand, the Big Bullets promotion was initiated by TNM as a contribution towards the team’s participation in CAF Champions League. As such, it is wrong to compare the levels of promoting the two initiatives,” wrote Nsapato in a response to a questionnaire.

And reacting to the Nomads general secretary Mike Butao’s claims that the ‘Noma Yathu’ promotion network did not operate effectively in the first six weeks, Nsapato said: “The ‘NomaYathu’ platform has been effectively operating from the launch day of the promotion up to the closing day.

“The only delay that occurred at the beginning was the uploading of trivia questions which participants were supposed to be answering. Content for these questions was supposed to be submitted by Be Forward Mighty Wanderers and it was immediately uploaded upon receipt.”

Nsapato also claimed that the promotion data and information on revenue generated was always made available for Wanderers in time.

“This is the very same data that has been used to run draws whenever they have asked us to conduct periodic draws,” he said.

He, however, acknowledged delays in processing of the initial payments.

“However, these delays only occurred at the beginning of the promotion. Partly those delays were also necessitated by delays in conducting the monthly draws. Otherwise all recent payments have been made on time. TNM has paid Wanderers all their monthly shares from this promotion to date,” said Nsapato.

Butao claimed that from the way TNM handled the two promotions, it was clear that they were supporting their rivals’ initiative, citing the flighting of adverts in the media as an example.