29 Nov 2022

Torrential rains that swept through Francistown on Saturday afternoon disrupted the annual Nyangabgwe cultural music festival.

The rain started at around 1pm and went on beyond 6pm, disrupting the official opening, which was scheduled to have been performed by the Assistant Minister of Yoouth, Gender, Sport and Culture, Buti Billy.

Several companies and government departments, amongst them Botswana Life, COSBOTS, Stanbic Bank and Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture had stalls at this year’s event, making it the first to attract big organisations.

The organiser and founder of Nyangabgwe cultural music festival, Ngwisiwa Ntogwa said in an interview that though the Department of Metrological Services had warned of possible torrential rains, he did not expect continuous rainfall on that day.

“We thought that the rain will last for few hours, but it continued, affecting both the culture day and culture night,” he added.

He explained that the culture day comprised of speeches from various dignitaries, whilst the culture night was a line-up of various artists and performers.

Ntogwa said amongst the invited musicians was awarding winning Magdeline Lesolobe aka Charma Gal.

Others included Tsakalana traditional group from Bobonong, Dinkgwana Tsa Ngwao from Borolong, Chilelje The Ngwao and Bana bana ba Ntogwa.

He explained that a lot of companies were willing to showcase their products, but did not show up because of the bad weather.

The disappointed Ntogwa said he had used a lot of money in preparing for the event, but things did not go as planned.

He said he had to stop Charma Gal at the eleventh hour because it was clear that the rain would not stop, adding he lost a lot of things, amongst them food, especially meat, adding that Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) had contributed 20 kilogrammes of sorghum, mealie meal, beans, and zengwe, which also went to waste.

Ntogwa said the youth ministry had given out P60 000 towards the event, which was meant for payment of artists, sound system and other related logistics.

He said he would organise a music festival on December 30, to be headlined by Charma Gal, to raise funds and recoup some of the losses he incurred.

One of the revellers, who is also a Charma Gal fan, Boikhutso Selabe, said he came all the way from Sowa Town with the hope that the event would go ahead as planned, but rain disrupted everything.

Selabe said he wanted to attend this year’s event as he had missed last year’s event.

One of the stall owners, Matshediso Mokheche, who was selling various food products, was grateful that though the rain disrupted everything, most of her food products sold on that day. ENDS