25 Sep 2022

Cultural enthusiasts from  Francistown and the periphery will on October 5, 2022 be treated to the premier of a documentary film titled, Untold stories; a history and diversity of Francistown.

The launch of an hour-long film is scheduled to take place at the Supa Ngwao museum and is open to the members of the public.

Supa Ngwao museum Curator, Mr Geoffrey Matheakgomo relayed to BOPA in an interview  recently that the US embassy bank-rolled documentary film aim to showcase and celebrate the rich history and ethnic diversity that makes up ‘the city of all things precious.

“The launch will set in motion efforts to foster the development and promotion of heritage tourism within the grater Francistown region,” he said.

The one-hour-long documentary film, funded to the tune of P115 000, will be done by Gaborone-based Visual Poem Studious.

According to Mr Matheakgomo, the platform will be used as a vehicle not only to showcase the Kalangas ’cultural heritage but would take on board elements of Shona, Ndebele, Tswanas, Malawians, Angolans and several other groups who migrated into the second city during the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (WENELA) recruitment during the gold rush in South Africa in the late 30’s.

The documentary will have snippets of Supa Ngwao museum which used to be the Resident Commissioners’ house and courtroom past. “We also have such interesting sites including the old jail which used to have segregated holding cells for the natives and another one for Europeans.  The two did not share the same cell,” he said further.

Mr Matheakgomo stated further that the idea was to have as many sites developed in the area so that the people of Francistown and the surrounding especially the young people could experience a snow-balling effect of revenues accrued from heritage tourism. Also, he added the City Council as well as Supa Ngwao stood to benefit from financial spin-offs coming from the sector.

Supa Ngwao’s vision is to hype the heritage tourism in Francistown to the extent the city will come to par with some of the most visited cities such as Thebes renowned for the pyramids of Giza just outside Cairo, Egypt and Lalibela in Ethiopia commonly famous for temples built into a rock, a phenomenon that still amazes modern engineering and so forth.

He said  that the government has through the National Environmental Fund as well as the Hundred Monuments Programme disbursed money to develop heritage sites.

Asked about previous collaborations that the museum had with the US Embassy, Mr Matheakgomo’s answer was in the affirmative.

He told BOPA that the Embassy had in the past helped refurbish the museum’s storage facility by installing proper lighting and air conditioning through its Ambassadors’ fund for cultural preservation.

“Our artifacts especially the ethnographic ones such as the skins and the baskets deteriorate quickly,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Matheakgomo said plans were at an advanced stage to undertake construction at the museum next year.

The project, to be done in phases, would commence with the construction of the Art Gallery and the rest of the other construction work would follow. Ends