13 Aug 2023

Music enthusiasts will end the year on high courtesy of Gilbert Promotions’ inaugural lifestyle event dubbed Gaborone City Lights billed for December 31.

In an interview on Friday the promoter, Gilbert Seagile said like other international lifestyle events such as Vic Falls Carnival and UK’s Glastonbury Festival, the event is destined to be world class attracting international audiences.

Seagile said Gaborone City Lights launch is slated for August 30 at Hilton Garden Inn.

Prior to the launch there will be a breakfast meeting on August 17 where he would engage the city leadership, MPs and other stakeholders.

Seagile said they aimed to promote Gaborone through the event, a first of its kind.

He added that the event aimed to be hip to bring the city to live, attracting people across the world and bolstering the city’s economy.

“For such events, you will find that 80 per cent of people come from outside. We need to have an event that could be pinned. Our plan was to have a three stage street bash in the Gaborone Central Business District (CBD) where the carnival will take place during the day and lighting up CBD in the night hence the name Gaborone City Lights”.

He said activities would include fire works display, a carnival and others that would leave a lasting impression in the minds of revellers.

He said foreign tourists were aware of Maun and other attractions and not the capital city as little was done to attract them to the area.

Seagile said they were in talks with various stakeholders such as Gaborone City Council, Regional Arts Council including Glastonbury festival organisers to exchange notes on holding a successful event.  

To garner wide coverage across different media platforms, Seagile said he was negotiating with Botswana Television, RB2 and Channel O among others.   

Seagile said they had not drawn a list of artists for the day.

He said their desire was to rope in international crowd pullers that could also help local acts to benefit as there would be cultural exchange.

Seagile talked of a clothing line that will be revealed on the day of the event launch.

He said the clothing line was to be distributed across the country, adding that the event was marketed outside because the intention was to bring the world to Gaborone.

“The aim is to market the event outside the country, we are to go to Namibia, Zambia, South Africa and Europe since we are bringing the world to Gaborone” he said. Ends