11 Nov 2019

Lobatse International Beef Fest organiser, Barolong Seboni says he is happy at the growth of the event and now wants to turn it into major international tourism attraction.

Multitudes of meat lovers and revellers attended the event on November 9 at Lobatse Town Park, and enjoyed a variety of Tswana meat cuisine and music throughout the day. The menu included braai, seswaa, mokoto and tlhako, served with phaleche and bogobe.

Seboni, who started the event in 2013, said it had grown from strength to strength over the past seven years. He said it was now a big brand.

“I basically wanted to do something, which is uniquely Botswana and all Batswana can congregate around. So, I was thinking around cuisine and naturally beef was the first thing that came to my mind because it is a major ingredient in Tswana cuisine. Lobatse was the first place that came to my mind because it is the beef capital of the world,” Seboni said about his idea for establishing the event.

He pointed that the concept was one of festivity and celebration, which is why they infused entertainment because Batswana like music.

He said they wanted to give artistes from Lobatse a platform to showcase their talent through the event, which was why at least 80 per cent of DJs who entertained the crowd were from Lobatse.

“We have branded the event and the show must go on. Our message has always been that we need a brand that we could sell and that brand must touch on our culture, economy, cuisine and basically lifestyle. Through beef I feel we have achieved that,” he said.

Seboni pointed that he would be working on turning the event into a major tourism attraction. He further said he was looking to make it attract more people from outside Botswana.

“We are working hard to make it a truly international event and that is going to be the ultimate measure of our success,” he said.ENDS