Creatives promises: Real or political gimmickry
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Sunday November 12, 2023 06:00
Since taking over the reins in 2018, Masisi has identified the creative industry as one of the sectors to drive his economic diversification agenda. Masisi has on several occasions, including his previous State of the Nation Addresses (SONA), reiterated government’s commitment to the promotion and investment in the creative industry to preserve culture and generate a livelihood for artists.
On Monday, the President just like in the previous occasions, continued to make pledges to boost the creative industry. The President said the commercialisation of the creative industry presents a huge opportunity for Batswana creatives to generate employment and wealth, especially for the youth.
Being the President who has overseen the takeoff of the long-planned Botswana National Arts Council (BNAC), Masisi said the BNAC has undertaken extensive consultations in order to formulate a strategy that will transform the local creative industry and protect the cultural heritage.
“Moreover, the council has started its operations by issuing grants to winning proposals in various categories of arts and crafts. This has resulted in the engagement of 19 Youth Production Companies in the Industry,” Masisi said.
Furthermore, Masisi said P15 million was spent to acquire local content during the 2022/23 financial year.
The President reiterated that this is a way to continue creating economic activity in the Film and Television Industry.
Consequently, he said 27 programme series sets have been acquired, thereby, creating employment for 220 people within the creative industry value chain, such as production teams and actors. Masisi pledged that more local content will be acquired in the financial year 2023/24 to be played on Btv 3, the readiness of which is at 85%. Furthermore, he stated that Botswana will hold its inaugural International Film Festival from November 20-24, 2023. He explained that the festival is a platform for networking with filmmakers, distributors, streaming platforms, financiers, writers and all other supporting industries. This, he said, will among others, unlock value chains in the sector, enhance distribution platforms and commercialise the creative Intellectual Properties.
All of this reflects the government’s efforts to prioritise the arts and culture as a vehicle for advancing socio-economic development. However, while the Masisi government’s commitment and plans for Botswana’s arts industry are exciting and enticing, there seems to be no action to deliver on them.
For example, barely a year into operating, the BNAC is already under a dark cloud following the suspension of its substantive Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Shombie Ellis, who had served for just eight months. Ellis was appointed in January this year after a long wait. Her departure comes amid allegations of board interference in the running of the organisation as well as allegations of bad governance issues.
Prior to her appointment, the council had been without a substantive CEO for a few years since its establishment and her sudden suspension has raised concerns among stakeholders about the council’s future and its capacity to deliver its mandate. This is something that obviously taints Masisi’s SONA message on the part of the creatives because it contradicts exactly what his government promises.
The creative industry had also expected the President to update them on the promised American television producer, Steve Harvey’s investment plan for the local creative industry. Following Harvey’s visit to the country a few years ago, it was announced that he had expressed his ambition to turn Botswana into a major creative industry centre in the continent. There was uproar locally after government allegedly handpicked Steve Harvey Global (SHG) to revamp the Mass Media.
Government, through the Department of Broadcasting Services (DBS), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SHG regarding facilitation of the creative industry. While details surrounding the deal were sketchy, it was said that through the arrangement, SHG will be appointed for the provision of radio and television production services to DBS for a period of three years. Government had defended the decision saying it would invigorate the local creative industry. However, the project has not taken off.
The creative sector is besieged by many challenges which remain unattended such as lack of art galleries, music festival venues and theatres for performances.
Masisi’s government has promised to develop a State Theatre after years of waiting, therefore, it was critical that the President should have also addressed the nation on the level of progress they have made in that regard. All this prompts a question of whether his promises are real or just a mere talk and election gimmickry.