29 Nov 2018

Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development is in the process of having an Arts Council and a Film Commission meant to promote and support the film and television industry.

This was revealed by Minister Thapelo Olopeng during a consultative meeting  in Gaborone on Tuesday, where the ministry engaged with relevant stakeholders regarding challenges faced in the industry and ways to improve it.

He said the film and television sector was a huge industry with potential to help curb high unemployment rate that exists in Botswana. 

However, he said the non-existence of a film commission posed a great challenge. 

He said the commission had policies and guidelines that could help sustain the sector as well as advocate for local content to be aired not only on local but also international audience. 

“The film commission also protects the rights and interests of local content producers as well as actors,” he said. 

Since the inception of NOW TV in March, he said it had been airing 100 per cent content acquired from local production companies. 

He said the project was started with a limited budget of P10 million.

He further revealed that the ministry had been given a budget of P50 million this financial year for the youth TV.

Through the youth TV, he said the ministry intends to raise the bar high by supporting local content so that in the next financial year their budget could be increased.

On the recent film festival, which was held in Gaborone, Olopeng explained that it was one of the many initiatives the ministry undertook to promote the role of film and television in Botswana. 

Although the festival lasted only a day on its debut year, Olopeng vowed to make it an annual event to be extended by a couple of days.

Olopeng stressed that he would continue to consult with stakeholders within the film and television industry to get an understanding of how complex the industry was and explore opportunities in the untapped creative industry.

Meanwhile, some of the industry players and stakeholders said they were faced with numerous challenges, which made it hard for them to develop the sector.

Content producers and production companies also pointed out that lack of funds was also one of the challenges they faced in the industry. 

Also, they complained about the Open View High Definition (OVHD) decoders that were circulating in Botswana made up of mainly content from South Africa and international productions. 

They said because of such decoders, Batswana no longer had access to local content.

Responding to some of the concerns raised, Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority’s media and content manager, Marea Jeremiah said they had engaged relevant authorities such as the Botswana Police and the BURS to help with the issue of OVHD decoders as they were distributed illegally from neighboring countries. END