Culture fans sad over poor SOTS
Spira Tlhankane | Tuesday February 2, 2016 15:20
Although they came dressed up for the occasion, the event was found to be lacking in terms of entertainment and the programme was not followed properly.
Apart from dikhwaere and performances from Dramaboi as the highlight of the day, there was no action for patrons to feel engaged. To top it all, when the time for lunch arrived people lined up in long queues to get their share.
The food serving points were divided into two and thousands of people had to wait in the scorching heat of the sun for more than two hours.
Some of the food was not properly cooked and the last people in the queue did not get to choose their menu because the food had run out. They were serving beverages like traditional beer, khadi and mokuru but the beverages too ran out by late afternoon.
The traditional beer serving containers (diphafana) were sold out by lunchtime.
The traditional games were scheduled to be played competitively later in the afternoon, but the games were not played until it was already approaching sunset.
For the first timers it was the worst experience ever as they were anticipating something greater. For an event that was celebrating 12 years, someone would have expected SOTS to be top notch looking at the following it has amassed over time. After the event, many people took their frustrations to social media and some posted on the event’s Facebook page demanding their money back.
“For a first timer I must say it was such a disappointment. I didn’t even eat after spending an hour in the sun then to be told ga gona dijo le di plate, nyaa betsho you guys need to sit down le ipaakanye, people were so disappointed,” one of the complainants posted.
A disgruntled woman said she regretted wasting her money on the poorly organised cultural event. “You need a PR person right now. A public apology needs to come out tomorrow morning.... radio, social media and print media.
We need to see ownership and accountability. Take responsibility people, this doesn’t look good,” said one local musician on the page.
Some of the unhappy complainants even threatened to boycott the event next time because they felt disrespected.
“Yesterday’s event was a disaster. It was my first time there and I’m never coming back.”
“Inadequate shades, poor sound, zero entertainment, terrible food, inadequate beverages... after the three events I have been to, I doubt I will be coming next year.” To contain the overwhelming complaints and disappointment, the organisers of the show released a statement seeking to calm the situation down.
“We appreciate your patronage at this year’s SOTS.
We also greatly appreciate your valuable feedback and as we continue to grow in leaps and bounds, we will continue addressing the challenges that come with the growth through your valuable feedback.
Our vision is that we grow the event so that our culture is not only enjoyed by Batswana, but also the international community and it is only with your continued support that we can achieve this.” In an interview, one the event organisers Pontsho Pusoetsile said they are aware of people’s complaints. “We will release a statement to address some of the issues raised by our patrons to show we take their feedback seriously,” he said.
Pusoetsile said as organisers of the annual event, they realised that they did not do some things right.
He said this year’s event was a learning point and therefore they need to change the event’s format to reflect the numbers.
“After all SOTS is leading in terms of packaging events and as we grow we are bound to meet challenges on the way”. Pusoetsile said the feedback would help them to address concerns ahead of next year’s event.