The State Theatre has been on the government’s financial plans for a long time but has suffered deferment on several occasions as the government altered its priorities. However, the past deferments have had the government’s commitment on developing the creative sector questioned by industry players. Delivering his ministry’s Budget Estimates for 2025/2026, Kelebeng said the construction of the State Theatre is among some of the projects that will gobble about 65% of the ministry’s Developmental Budget. He requested a Developmental Budget of P102, 942, 820 for the financial year 2025/2026, with over P60 million of that allocated for infrastructure projects. This comes after the ministry previously announced that it has engaged a Transactional Advisor in 2023 to conduct a feasibility study on the construction of the State Theatre through a public-private partnership (PPP). “The study is ongoing, and an Inception report, a Needs Assessment and Solution Options Report were submitted in January 2025 for consideration,” Kelebeng said.
The previous government had told Parliament that the Transactional Advisor was engaged at a cost of P2, 922, 000. The scope of the project was to enable the government to determine: Full project cycle costs; Affordability limits risks and their costs and Optimal Value-for-Money (VfM) methods of procurement and delivery. Meanwhile, Kelebeng further told Parliament that to support artists, the ministry has identified spaces in Maunatlala, Tsabong and Gumare for cultural centres to provide more working and exhibition spaces, slaes and marketing opportunities for their products. He aims government, through the National Arts Council of Botswana aims to implement key initiatives within the creative sector to drive investment, market access and revenue generation. “The key priorities include private sector participation and leveraging on digital platforms to enable streaming, e-commerce and mobile distribution of Botswana’s music, film, fashion and visual arts,” he added.
