13 Jan 2021

Botswana Music Union (BOMU) president, Phemelo Lesokwane says BOMU and Botswana Entertainment Promoters Association (BEPA) appreciate government’s support to artists during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was speaking on Monday January 11 during a joint press briefing organised by BOMU and BEPA to give an update on the status of the creative industry and other related issues.

He said government continued to roll out subsides with the intention to assist the creative industry to recover from the effects of COVID-19.

Lesokwane urged artists to join the music union, saying government would not be assisting artists individually. He added that all that concerned artists would be addressed through the union and other legitimate associations.

He also said he appreciated the recent initiative by the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development (MYESC) named extravaganza visual concept which was mandated to record and document local musical legends.

He said the initiative intended to resurrect the creative industry and that so far 26 legends, including those that had released musical albums between 1980 and 2000 and artists living with disabilities have benefitted.

“A total of P900 000 was initially set aside to cover documentation and recordings, however, the budget was exceeded and the total amount used stood at P1.1 million,” he said.

He noted that each documented article benefitted to the tune of P20 000 and that 40 more artists were yet to be documented. He added that expected expenditure would be P2.2 million.

He further said negotiations with NOW Television channel were underway to see how other genres could benefit.

Furthermore, Lesokwane called on artists to exercise patience, saying although government policies were moving at a slow pace, it was important to remain hopeful rather that engage in demonstrations that were also contributing to the spread of the virus.

For his part, BEPA president, who is also the director of Gilbert Promotions, Seagile said the association had come up with a COVID-19 recovery plan which was at an advanced stage.

He said the plan included a lobby for a promoters licensing for easy identification of legible promoters so as to curb the challenge of fly by night promoters who rob artists.

He further said the licensing would call for all corporate and government events to be organised by licensed promoters. 

Moreover, he said negotiations with the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) in an effort to develop a model of funding creative industry entrepreneurs were at an advance stage. ENDS