The only remaining tickets are regular tickets, which are sold at P480 each. This was announced at a press conference held at GICC yesterday. The Mayor of Gaborone, Kagiso Thutlwe, hailed the Hamptons promoters for bringing excitement in abundance. He said the fact that they have managed to sell out some tickets demonstrates that the festival has grown bigger. “We have wanted to see something like this. We always hear about festivals in Durban, but the Hamptons is now the biggest jazz festival here,” he said. Thutlwe thanked the promoters for giving Batswana something to be proud of. “Local artists should rise and the media should hype this event so that it reaches greater heights and promote this city,” he said. At the same event, the CEO of the Hamptons, Debbie Smith, announced that they will support Kast’s fill up the stadium concert by buying tickets worth P10,000. She said their mandate is to promote local artists. “We will work with Kast; he has a great inspiration and aspiration,” she said. Smith said they will also do an aggressive marketing to promote Tlatsa Lebala campaign after the Hamptons Jazz show. Kast indicated that he was shocked to get this amount of support from the Hamptons promoters. “This will help a lot in our campaign. I am passionate about local music and we have to work together as musicians, promoters and the media to grow this industry,” he said. Smith also announced that they had donated P10,000 to students at the Gaborone Technical College. “This will help in their education. During the event, some of the students will help as part of their school practical,” she said. Tiro Kganelo, a representative of the main sponsor, beMOBILE, announced that they will be unlimited free wifi at the event for everyone. “We want to harness the power of entertainment to reach our customer base,” he said. Kganela said the Hamptons Jazz Festival has grown into a brand that beMOBILE wants to be associated with.
The promoters of the annual festival will do the set up from Monday until Thursday and the sound check for local artists will be done on Friday. G4S security has been engaged to take care of security and they will work with the Botswana Police Service to ensure safety. Letta Mbulu and Caiphus Semenya will headline the show. Other artists include Nathi, Oliver Mutukudzi, Vusi Nova, Sereetsi and the Natives, Vusi Mahlasela, Women of Jazz, Trinity Mpho, The Soil, Sharon Sibonge, DJ Laninah Benz, DJ Stomps, Nono Siile and many others.
