New BEPA chair promises financial audit

Sharon Mathala - Larona Makhaiza | Monday May 12, 2025 14:57

Just a week into the office, Mojakgomo has identified key aspects, which will be the guide for the newly elected committee. The Born and Raised co-founder stated that under his administration, BEPA would be on a mission to professionalise the entertainment industry, doing away with the stereotype of the industry being just a break for hobby.

“We want the creative sector to operate in a very formal way.

It must be professionalised, it must not be viewed as a form of entertainment; it should be perceived like any other job, whether journalism or in the bank,” he said.

Mojakgomo stated that to professionalise the entertainment industry, BEPA needs to go on a robust stakeholder engagement where they need to convince potential business partnerships to invest in the industry.

“We want to bring in stakeholders who have an impact in the industry; critical stakeholders. For example, we can talk about the security services companies, ticket selling outlets, advertorial work. So having a team that mobilises that will help professionalise this industry,” he said.

To make BEPA more appealing to be professionalised, Mojakgomo highlighted that he and his committee would work on creating regulatory frameworks that are in line with the professional world.

“As we professionalise, we need to have regulatory frameworks in place. We talk about the enabling policies that we need to have that will make us realise who we are and what we want to do. Constitutional review is also in the cards,” he said. On other strategies that will serve as a guide for their term, he indicated that BEPA needs to go on a membership drive across the country that will see more members join the association, which helps the association grow,” Mojakgomo said. Regarding challenges that have been hitting the entertainment industry, issues of ticket counterfeiting and fake tags, the new chair acknowledged the challenges as a huge impediments.

“Issues of ticket counterfeiting and fake tags are really a big challenge. So one thing that we dream to do is to even have a ticketing company for the association so that this company be the one that services our members where we will introduce scanning of tickets and tags which will stop this issue,” he said.

Turning to the future, he said following handing over their immediate task will be an audit of the BEPA financials.

“Where necessary criminal charges will be laid against individuals because although we are yet to receive full details the information, we have so far indications of massive mismanagement of funds,” Mojakgomo stated.

Asked to clarify further he said: “Look, for instance, there are assets belonging to BEPA that need to be accounted for, just to give an insight since I can’t share much there was a vehicle purchased for BEPA but it was since turned into a cab for indrive and in fact as we speak the car is damaged. So yes, we will be cleaning the house first and going after all the assets, however small they are.” The new BEPA chair also highlighted that they will be looking into the controversial Department of Broadcasting (DBS) deal with BEPA. BEPA has been given millions to facilitate amongst others the DBS tour and assist December events. “There was a company contracted for this tender and we need to know how that went about and make sure it aligns legally.

“We want to know what criteria was used to select the shows that were assisted with funding because we all know there were irregularities with that. From the AGM, the outgoing committee shared financials and we are of the view that the BEPA’s financials do not reflect what was happening and what continues to happen,” Mojakgomo stated.

He further shared that the government has been all along assisting promoters and musicians in trying to diversify the economy but in most instances the assistance is often marred by controversies.