05 May 2024

The nation has been encouraged to celebrate the growth of cultural festivals that positively impact the lives of ordinary community members.

Officiating at the 2024 edition of the Khawa Dune Challenge and Cultural Festival Friday night, Acting President Slumber Tsogwane said the success and growth of such events could be reasonably measured by the positive difference they brought upon the lives of the people on the ground.

Tsogwane said sustainable livelihoods for rural communities especially in previously marginalised areas could be attained by ensuring that events of the magnitude of the Khawa Dune Challenge hosted in their localities left an indelible social and economic imprint.

“Our development processes have from independence advanced the need to develop rural communities as shown by our National Development Plan in which this was highlighted,” he said.

He said the annual Khawa Dune challenge and other similar festivals should thus be a vehicle to help bring about practical solutions to pressing issues such as unemployment and poverty.

“We cannot define our level of development as a sign of economic growth when poverty, unemployment and social and economic inequalities still exist in our communities,” he said, urging patrons of the events to individually play a role in helping communities attain sustainable livelihoods.

Turning his focus specifically to the Khawa Dune challenge, the Acting President said the event continued to usher in new developments to the Khawa community, which ought to bring changes in the livelihoods of the people around.

He said one of the critical milestones in that regard was the newly-established entrance gate to the Kalahari Trans-frontier Park, a move that he said was expected to add flavour to the cultural tourism linked to the Khawa cultural festival.

Tsogwane said the dune challenge and cultural festival had the potential of growing bigger and bringing economic benefits to the community through value chain development, a concept that he said was borne out of government’s pursuit of citizen economic empowerment, job creation and import substitution.

The Acting President said Botswana tourism policy of 2021 provided for tourism product diversification and investment growth, adding that the expectation therefore, was for the Khawa Dune challenge to lead to the development of several value chains.

He said the dune challenge and cultural festival was a living example of a combination of cultural and sport tourism that featured not only the opportunity for leisure and recreation but one that also provided for engaging in income-generating activities.

He said the event was thus an opportunity to achieve economic prosperity for all as espoused in Vision 2036.

Minister Dumezweni Mthimkhulu of Environment, and Tourism shared in the assertion that the Khawa Dune Challenge and Cultural Festival grew year on year. 

He attributed this to government and President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s relentless drive to have Batswana participate in and enjoy the rich tourism potential of their country and thereby have a hand in the economic growth of their country.

Mthimkhulu implored Batswana to fully embrace the tourist attractions in their country instead of giving preference to those in other countries and noted that this way, they would be playing an active role in helping grow and diversify local economy.

The Khawa event that spanned two days featured a rich line-up of activities that included a cultural music festival, sporting activities such as motorsport and quad biking, camel rides, a horse race and a smallstock auction.  Ends