02 Mar 2020

The resident director and chief executive officer at De Beers Botswana, Neo Moroka says time is now to develop and package Polka for international stage as component of cultural tourism.

Speaking during the colourful Polka Festival where multitudes had thronged Tsabong Stadium on Saturday, Moroka said Polka had grown in leaps and bounds nationwide and it had the potential to pull more crowds.

He said more people continued to throng the festival in large numbers hence the need to leverage on this and cast the net wide to attract international tourists.

In 2011, he said Polka started to feature in President Day arts and culture competitions where only four groups participated, the number which eventually increased to 44 groups in 2019.

This, he said was a reflection that the music was gaining popularity. He thus encouraged those in the western region as it was the home of Polka music to maintain the development and keep the momentum. He encouraged groups to continue working hard to prop up the unique Kgalagadi heritage.

Furthermore, Moroka noted that the Polka Festival had helped unearth other forms of dances in the region such as the Namastaap dance which was not known hence the need to nurture and sell them as tourism products.

He noted that Kgalagadi South, BORAVAST cluster made up of Bokspits, Rappelspan, Vaalhoek and Struizendam was where Polka originated and said it was vital to sustain the cultural heritage where curators would archive and others groups could come and benchmark.

Moroka said the Polka dance could be developed and explored internationally to attract tourist from abroad hence the need to protect its history and jealously guard it.

The Kgalagadi native encouraged Pinagare ya Sekaka cultural association which had been involved in the running of the show to continue from where the government had done to develop the Polka groups.

The groups, he said could follow the trails of renown traditional groups such as Culture Spears who had a track record of international performances.

For his part, Member of Parliament for Kgalagadi South, Sam Brooks said it was critical to develop the arts and culture, as well as indigenous knowledge, adding that the development of the arts and culture would indirectly drive Botswana towards economic diversification and a knowledge-based economy.

In an interview, the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Kgalagadi District coordinator Betty Gaotilwe said the festival had ripple positive effects as more dances and talents continued to be unearthed through the annual Polka Festival.

One such development was the unearthing of Namastaap dance which became a category this year.

Pinagare Ya Sekaka cultural association chairperson Shadrack Van Niekerk said Polka started in Namibia. He said the dance was named after a sweet Polka berry fruit found in the bushes.

The dance, he said, was said to be as sweet as the fruit and the dance began to be called Polka by their forefathers.

Van Niekerk said the association had been preparing to run the show in 2021 hence they would expand the festival to infuse other cultural segments in an effort to grow arts and culture.

“We have been in this for almost three years working with the government.

We are ready to take over the running of the show to a higher level. That is our dream,” he said. The event was held under the theme: Polka Music and Dance Our Way of Life. ENDS