20 Nov 2022

 The crippling effects of COVID-19 on the arts and entertainment industry must be mitigated in every way possible.

Minister for State President, Kabo Morwaeng, said this in Palapye on Friday at the Department of Broadcasting Services (DBS) roadshow, which President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi graced.

Minister Morwaeng said the arts industry could use every support it could get for it to be able to get back on its feet again.

“We undertook this roadshow to celebrate RB2’s 30th anniversary and we decided to do this in a special way by bringing on board the entire arts industry through a programme that would ultimately benefit the nation and artists.

You will recall how the arts industry was almost totally crippled by COVID-19 and we saw RB2’s anniversary as a great opportunity for us to help revive the industry,” he explained.

The minister said the roadshow had laid bare the fact that the arts industry carried a lot of potential and that Batswana could derive their livelihood from it in different ways. Summing up its objectives, Morwaeng said the roadshow targeted 50 villages and that Palapye was its 37th stop.

To date, he added, 715 creatives had been reached, 345 of whom had had opportunity to perform during the roadshow.

In the end, the minister said government, through DBS, had resolved to have 80 per cent local content on television and radio against 20 per cent from outside sources.

Botswana Musicians Union (BOMU) president, Phemelo ‘Fresh’ Lesokwane, hailed the roadshow for the positives that their organisation was continuing to draw from it.

He said in addition to helping push their membership drive, the roadshow had unearthed a lot of raw talent as shown by the high number of fresh entrants on nominee lists for the BOMU awards.

Lesokwane, however, complained that the national arts council was taking forever to get off the ground, something that he said meant that artists would have to wait long to benefit from its existence.

A promoter, Boikuelo Metseyabeng, said the inadequacy of the support rendered to the arts industry by the private sector was worrying and should therefore be looked into.

He said the waning support was one of the reasons for the arts industry’ sluggish pace of growth.

For his part, Botswana Entertainment Promoters Association president, Gilbert ‘PP’ Seagile, said the entertainment industry could create many jobs, therefore it should be assisted in every way possible to realise this potential.

“Government should make the playing field conducive for the music industry to blossom. Let us see to it that we dismantle the BDF, police and prisons bands and leave their work to artists,” he said, emphasising that government should not in any way be in competition with the music industry. Ends