Zoomlion Group of Companies on Wednesday presented a cheque for $50,000 dollars to all the football supporting unions in the country to cheer up the national team, the Black Stars in the forthcoming African Cup of Nations.

The amount was in response to the appeal President John Dramani Mahama made to corporate bodies a couple of weeks ago to support government to transport supporters to throw their weight behind the national team in South Africa.

Presenting the cheque in Accra, Dr Joseph Agyepong-Siaw, Chief Executive Officer of the Zoomlion Group of Companies, said supporting the Black Stars could also serve as the channel to educate Ghanaians on sanitation, hence the theme: “A cleaner Ghana is a victorious Ghana.”

The money would be distributed to various supporter unions, who would then select people from their groups to support the national team throughout the tournament.

He appealed to other corporate bodies to lend their support to the national team to enable them to return with the ultimate cup, which had eluded the country for the past 31 years.

Dr Edward Omane Boamah, Minister for Communications designate, who has been assigned the role of Coordinator for AFCON 2013 in South Africa appealed to the beneficiaries to conduct themselves professionally to avoid falling foul to the laws of South Africa.

“I want to advise all those of you who will be given the opportunity to South Africa to be disciplined by avoiding criminal activities that will be against the laws of the host country,” the Coordinator added.

Mr Clement Kofi Humado, Caretaker Minister for Youth and Sports and Minister designate for Food and Agriculture, commended Zoomlion Group of Companies for the financial support and gave the assurance that it would be channeled to the purpose for which it was donated.

He appealed to the leaderships of the various groups to collaborate effectively with all the authorities to avoid unnecessary clashes in the course of sharing the donations.