Why the WCKA festival is failing

Thalefang Charles | Friday December 12, 2014 20:28

 

Why is the Western Kgalagadi Cultural Association (WCKA) Festival failing? Why does it fail to pull crowds like the relatively new Khawa Dune Challenge, which is hosted in the remote wilderness of the Kgalagadi desert, or Dithubaruba Cultural Festival or the Domboshaba Festival?

WCKA is run by a 16-member committee representing all the settlements within the Western Kgalagadi Conservation Corridor (WKCC). The WKCC project was established by Conservation International (CI) aimed at finding conservation solutions in the vast region between the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve (CKGR) covering parts of Kgalagadi and Gantsi Districts.  The French Government, through FFEM, assisted by Botswana government funded the project.  WKCC organised a traditional dance workshop in 2009 in Kang to mobilise traditional dance groups in the project area. One of the workshop resolutions was to form an umbrella organisation (called WKCA) for traditional dance groups, so that the WKCC project could invest in the human capital required for cultural tourism.

The inaugural festival was a huge success in terms of attendance, coordination and profits.  It made over P10, 000 from gate takings. CI and Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) handsomely funded them. An events company, Zen Promotions, was hired to manage the festival.  The Kgalagadi and Gantsi district councils were heavily involved and assisted with logistics in terms of transportation of groups from various settlements. There was visible and intense marketing and promoting of the event by BTO on television and in newspapers. The event became an instant hit and promised to be even bigger in the following years.

In 2011, however, the event was a total flop. There were almost no spectators at the two-day event. They made only P2,000 according to the association treasurer, Odirile Molemele. She said they cancelled the event organiser’s contract after the first successful show because they felt Zen Promotions charged more money for nothing.  The event went from bad to worse after CI stopped funding it. The committee was also not savvy enough to manage on their own.

Zenzele Hitchfelt of Zen Promotions said the event would not grow if the committee refuses to engage event managers. She disputed the committee’s assertions that she was expensive saying, “I was the lowest bidder when CI engaged us.  Those people (committee) do not understand event management.  They think event coordination is about getting dirty doing all the chores. They do not appreciate the fact that event managers are coordinators. If they still stick to their belief that they will do everything on their own, their event will not grow”. WKCA committee members admit that it comprises of clueless and inexperienced members who keep failing the association.  The chairman of the association, Morgan Serema, listed their problems to Mmegi in an interview. He says his committee started planning for the event late.

“We only started meetings in November with just three weeks to the event,” he said. He alluded that the dragging of feet in his committee is due to the distance between members.  Some members, for instance, from Khawa need to travel over 700 kilometres for a meeting at a central location that is Kang. It has been four years and they still fail to find a working solution to this problem. Morgan also feels the committee has overstayed its welcome and has become complacent.

He said: “We thought a new committee would be selected, but again due to meeting challenges we have not had committee elections since the formation of the association.”

A representative of BTO said this year the association only approached them in November to request for funds for the event. This was after BTO made inquiries on the status of the event.  BTO had initially decided to disinvest from the event because they said, “the committee was not serious about the event”. BTO only came on board at the 11th hour to assist with marketing and promotions.

But they could not do enough because they have already stretched their budget elsewhere.  Few adverts were shown on Botswana television two days before the event, but there were no newspaper adverts or billboards like they do with other events.

Senior Assistant Council Secretary at the Hukuntsi Sub-Counci, Joseph Kgabanyane, told of their council’s contribution to the event. He said their council helps with vehicles to transport groups from various settlements. He revealed that it was their Rural Development Council that gave them the idea of a cultural village that they expect to develop at Phuduhudu. 

The Phuduhudu location will be the future home of the event.  Kgabanyane said they took the committee members for a successful benchmarking exercise at  Ngamiland community association.  “We thought with that support they could manage on their own,” said Kgabanyane.

Kang North councilor, Kemmonye Makatane, also points an accusing finger at the association committee saying, “they lack management skills to run the event”.

He also blamed the two councils of Kgalagadi and Gantsi for failing to budget for the event.  Makatane called for councils and all community leaders to get involved and not leave it to committee members.

He also highlighted that the reason why there is less interest from Kang community towards the event is because there are no groups representing them.

“Kang residents are keen on choirs, not traditional dance. So if choirs could be introduced just like Polka, which is mainly from south western Kgalagadi district, Kang people could attend in large numbers,” he said.

Various group leaders were also unimpressed by the organisers.  Gosiame Ghaengwa from Honhukwe decried the meagre compensation that each participant gets from the event.

Mmegi established that last year each participant was given P150 as an appearance fee.  This year the treasurer said they still have to calculate the fee, but it would be smaller because they do not have enough funds.  Ghaengwa suggested that the association introduce incentives in the form of competition, giving the example of the President’s Competition where the winner gets something.  He also urged organisers to better market the event.

Another participant from Monong, Makgaoge Tsiate complained about being made to dance in the sneering heat during the day. He said that the Saturday programme should be changed to avoid putting dancers at risk of getting heatstroke.

Interestingly, this year, the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Information and Broadcasting, Mogomotsi Kaboyamodimo, who was officiating at the event, urged the groups to participate in the President’s Day Competitions.

The groups had earlier told Mmegi that the President’s Competition is where they really bring out their best.