The current sad events in the music industry, require serious introspection into the reward chain of the Music Industry in Botswana. I have been observing with a keen eye over the past 10 years how the government has a huge expectation from an industry they don’t care or which they are investing little of their energy and resources in.
How the government continuously wants musicians to volunteer their performances services in national events for free when their welfare issues are not taken care of leaves a lot to be desired. How are musicians expected to perform for free when they have families to feed? How are musicians expected to perform for free when the same people who want them to do that get paid salaries at the end of the month?
It is a well known fact that besides the President’s Heritage Awards or President’s Constituency Arts competition there is nothing the government can point and say it is a significant investment into the music industry or a program to alleviate poverty amongst musicians. As a result musicians continue to die poor every month. A lot of musicians who have informally interacted with President H.E. S.K.I. Khama always tell us that he has an interest in the Arts but he is helpless because those who are supposed to support him are slacking. I believe them because of the current developments and their experience with H.E. from the army. It is a fact the future of the Arts lies in his hands or government. I am not writing this article to praise H.E. because I am not a poet.
I am merely crediting and acknowledging his good contribution. If he was not doing anything good I would constructively engage him, so credit must be given where it is due. I know I will be called a bootlicker but I don’t care because I am not a politician. I have nothing to benefit from politics. The numbers of musicians that enter for these competitions are there to justify my observation about their success and interest from musicians.
Moving on, I am not a great fan and greatly disturbed of the current environment where the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture has a budget for Arts development of less than P5 million annually, while for Youth and Sports over P200 million is spent every year.
There is mushrooming construction of stadia, high performance centers, youth centers, open spaces countrywide. And what about theatres, performance arenas e.t.c? As musicians we are forced to perform in bars and bus ranks as a result of having been kicked out of using schools and community halls recently by Ministry of Education and Councils countrywide.
There is also a problem with lack of outdoor music concert facilities in Botswana. To book a stadium for a music concert you can receive a quote of close to P100 000.00; it is a fact not fallacy. Government kicking out musicians from using school and community halls on the one hand allowing Nigerian Churches to use these facilities on the other leaves a lot to talk about in this country.
The passing of Johnny Kobedi and Donald Botshelo over recent weeks was an eye opener. I have been asking myself why did ordinary Batswana celebrate these gentlemen but at their funerals there was never a single government official let alone a message of condolences from government? I have been hurt by the cold shoulder that as musicians we continue to receive from Govt. A man of Johnny Kobedi’s stature who came out with guns blazing and distributed condoms at his Radio Knockout Quiz Studios at the station, openly educating Batswana about dangers of HIV/AIDS through the game sese mo lebokosong never got any credit or a message of condolences, I wonder what is going to happen if I die next week.
It is a well known fact that Johnny Kobedi started a crusade to educate Batswana about dangers of HIV/AIDS before government had a single policy on HIV/AIDS education. Johnny Kobedi is one of the people that encouraged the government about the need to increase the fight against HIV/AIDS.
It is a sore story that as musicians our association B.O.M.U. gets P50000 Annual Administrative grant from Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture while BNYC gets close to P10 million and BNSC P50 million every year.
The gap shows where the main interest of the Ministry lies. I was hurt to see and talk to Andries Bok at the Heritage Day competitions two weeks ago. Andries Bok the beacon of folk music in Botswana, could barely hear me or remember me. I asked myself what do we have in place to tap into his knowledge before he leaves this world?
Do we care about his music knowledge? Can the country benefit from his knowledge? Let alone who has his welfare at heart? Lastly does the Minister or officials at the Ministry know about him and his plight? The same goes to Kota E Shele who is currently fighting for his life somewhere in Kweneng.
The other day a friend of mine Mogomotsi Molapisi who doubles as a music promoter made a chilling statement at the BOMU AGM that the government especially the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture will never invest significantly in the music industry and does not recognize us. Until we go and see his Excellency H.E. S.K.I. Khama and make him fully aware about our daily struggles and challenges.
It is a fact there is not a single person, at most very few people from the music industry in that Ministry. Most people have been sports masters or worked at Dept of Sports and Recreation and their focus will always be Zebras and BNSC or BNYC. The spend on pro rata basis in the Arts VS Sports/Youth is so disturbing.
While we appreciate the success of Zebras and other sports personalities. Musicians have hoisted Botswana flag high way before football became big and these sports personalities started winning races.
People in the govt enclave have quickly forgotten the competition that had artists like Salif Keita, Angilie Kidjo, to name a few, which was won by the late Duncan Senyatso to compose a song? Do we remember Machesa? A Traditional Group that won two K.O.R.A. Awards, What about Stiga Sola? Who won a SAMA Award beating seasoned musicians like Steve Kekana and Johnny Mokhali?
For us to have a thriving Sports Fraternity government invested billions in infrastructure development and training of these athletes. What about us musicians? What has the govt spent on us? There are others like Banjo Mosele, Culture Spears, DJ Fresh, John Selolwane, Skizo, Draztik, Duncan Senyatso, Shumba Ratshega who have toured the world in their individual capacity hoisting the Botswana flag high.
In a nutshell, government of Botswana should start recognizing our contribution and creating an enabling environment for us just like is the case in Sports where there are stadiums all over and teams fly all over the world participating in tournaments at Government expense. We as musicians also want to fly all over touring and hosting residencies and cultural exchange festivals in various Universities and Colleges across the world. We deserve Arts Council just like sports and Youth have B.N.S.C. and B.N.Y.C.
We would appreciate if we could be funded with hundreds of millions and have infrastructure to use just like our counterparts from Sports and Youth, as we are all equal Batswana and stakeholders in the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture. The government should be serious about issues relating to fighting piracy and payment of royalties.
We can’t have a situation where people make more money from fake CDs more than our original music We can’t have a situation where broadcasters are raking in millions while musicians are poor while they use our music on a daily basis to attract advertisers.
The current situation is not excusable by any means. It is wrong and the playing ground must be a level funding between organizations.
In conclusion, the govt must make sure by 2012 there is an Arts Council to strengthen Arts Structures, the is a need for the Copyright Act to be fully implemented, as B.O.M.U. we still waiting for our first cheque from the Blank Tape Levy because we were told it was established to develop the music industry by former Minister Hon. N.D. Moroka.
Government should open up for proposals for us as musicians to be able to access funding from the levy. The government must also make sure it fights piracy otherwise if it increases at the going rate and pace musicians will be silenced and thrown into the garbage bin. C.O.S.B.O.T.S. must also open its doors for business. We can’t wait for so many years when nothing positive is happening.
I urge all musicians not to be apologetic when asking for better working conditions. Stand up for your rights rather than speaking behind masks. It is not wrong to ask for what you deserve and what we deserve is fair treatment. We don’t want to be spoon-fed.
Yours In Music
Seabelo Modibe
Record Label Owner
[email protected]
