P1.6M for BOMU awards
Lerato Maleke | Monday December 2, 2013 16:20
Other sponsors include the Department of Brodcasting Services which has provided 100 slots for airing the commercials on Btv, 300 radio slots on RB2, Mmegi as well for advertising, while Duma fm is airing jingles. Among other sponsors are Club Media with advertising video at a tune of P20,000, an individual from Otukile Entertainment with P5,000 as well as the Grand Palm hotel and Casino.
In his remarks the BOMU President Phempheretlhe 'Bafana' Pheto thanked all the sponsors for having an interest in the local music, more especially the major sponsor, the Department of Arts and Culture, which he said has been with them ever since they started the awards. He also appealed to local artists to dress well and take their products seriously, adding that no one can do this on their behalf.
'If you take yourselves seriously people around will also recognise you, especially when you go out there to ask for sponsorship', he advised. Pheto also urged his colleagues to always make sure that they look smart and also avoid things which can make them to fall by the way side. He cited an example whereby a person looks presentable and looks like a real artist, 'But then the following day you find the very same person at a shebeen or bar being drunk and unpresentable. Who will recognise you when you walk from office to office asking for sponsorship while the previous day you were a drunkard?' he asked.
Pheto also urged local musicians to unite and work together through the union to make it grow, hence to achieve its goals. To those musicians who like saying negative things about BOMU and running to the media, the Secretary Pagson Ntsie warned that this is not a solution, adding that this is destroying the union. He lamented that BOMU like any other organisation has its procedure and that if members are not happy, procedure should be followed rather than running to the media and destroying the union'.
The President for Finance and Research Botswelelo Tsekane, shared the same sentiments and urged all the members to unite and work together emphasising a Setswana idiom which says 'Mabogo dinku a thebana', (one good turn deserves another). He added that dedication, passion and patience are the medication for the success of the local union. According to him the local awards can go an extra-mile 'if all local acts take part and also see that the union grows', adding that very soon 'ours could reach a high level'.
For his part the Acting Director of Department of Arts and Culture Dean Molebatsi said that for local artists to be recognised, they too must take themselves seriously. He said that this however was not easy as his office had to go through a litany of proposals in excess of 500 amounting to P19 million in monetary terms. He said that as an artist one must have a vision as a key element, hence be a visionary, adding that there are side shows and all kinds of destructions. Therefore he said that artists must have focus and that he has been working with BOMU for years and that there was nothing to offer by then. 'To believe there is something out there to persue with vigour at whatever cost, one must be constructive, nobody is going to do it for you' advised Molebatsi. Often he said people have been coming to his office asking for sponsorship and complaining about a local show on Btv 'My Star'. 'What have you done when you criticise others?' he asked. Therefore he explained that his Department wants people who can stand up and reluctantly take off their jackets. 'As a Ministry we are highly indebted to Batswana volunteering their national service and we believe that old musicians should hustle for themselves, hence assist the upcoming ones'. He revealed that it is tough at the Department adding that 'go ngala ga go re thuse and in a nutshell awards are key to show in future that as an artists you have been in this and that and that is why there are different categories to accommodate all'. Therefore Molebatsi said that his Department can't do anybody a favour and urged local artists to use the money accountably with credibility and needs to built and come up with something credit worthy to meet basic international standards.
The event was spiced up by a tv personality now turned poet and artist, Benson Phuthego. Spiza of Off Campus Events played two tracks which took the audience by storm.