It is almost 6 years if not more since the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture was established. Various Ministers and Permanent Secretaries have come and gone but what do we have to show as the Arts for having this Ministry? To musicians nothing, except maybe the name Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture!
Programs and Policies: Since this Ministry was established it has not come up with any new Policy let alone present a single bill in Parliament to improve the lives of the Arts in Botswana. Calls for National Arts Council, Tax holiday, Infrastructure Development and Budget have all fallen in deaf ears. All these are enjoyed by the sports and youth fraternity under the Ministry. It’s quite surprising that only the Sports fraternity has tax holiday on sponsorships.
To us this is a deliberate ploy to chase sponsors from sponsoring artists and shift their focus to sports. For a Ministry that has been in existence for more than half a decade and is only milking H.E.’s Heritage and Constituency competitions programs, one may ask “do the Arts need to be under this Ministry if the Ministry is failing to deliver the Arts Council and create an even trading environment for artists through infrastructure development and improved funding?”
Infrastructure Development: The Artists in Botswana do not have any place to perform or exhibit their works, as there is no single state theatre and most are forced to perform in bars and beer gardens where they always get cheated by bar owners who charge them exorbitant percentage of the gate takings. The infrastructure we use is either owned by the Ministry of Local Government (Community Halls), Ministry of Education (School Halls), Security Institutions (BDF/Police Officers Halls). But these halls are multi-purpose. First preference of usage is East African Churches, Karate and other Sports, an example being the G/West Hall which at some point you could not stage a festival there because every Sunday there was a Church Service booked. Some venues have banned concerts like BTV Amphitheatre which has not been used in the past 4 years, BDF Auditorium costs P20 000.00, National Stadium P80 000.00.
Now will we have an entertainment industry with such charges?
Establishment of Department of Arts and Culture: The establishment of the Department of Arts and Culture is a welcome move that was awaited for a very long time. While this move was a step in the right direction, the Department of Arts and Culture still continues to struggle to find its feet in the Ministry’s agenda as the Department operates with a shoestring budget and is the least in the Ministry’s priorities. I mean if you were at the Youth Pitso and Pitso ya Ngwao one will understand what we are talking about. The Youth Pitso probably had P1million Budget and our Pitso maybe P100 000.
At the Youth Pitso politicians and Corporate top guns were there but what about our Pitso? Not even a single MP or CEO was invited because there was no support to the Department.
It is a fact that the Department of Youth and Sports and Recreation is treated better than our Department! The Budget allocated at the beginning of the year to Youth and Sports combined is way over 300million but Arts got less than 20million; about 5% of what was given to the Sports and Youth fraternity. The Department of Arts does not have fully fledged offices countrywide to assist artists and implement government programs. Our Ministry must emulate Ministries like Trade and Industry, Office of the President and benchmark on strategies they use to drive emerging sectors.
Funding of the Arts: The Performing Arts Grant that is allocated to the Department of Arts and Culture is so small that it does not cover more 10% of applications submitted at the Department. The sports fraternity has P200million war chest of funds to fund all sports associations, training, participation of sports personalities in international competitions, hosting of international competitions and events e.t.c. While the Youth have more than P300million to develop open spaces, fund projects and for training programs, the Department of Arts Culture’s budget can’t cover administrative overheads to the extent that sometime in 2008 there was no photocopy paper for close to a month at the Department. That’s why they are understaffed.
For the past 8 years, B.O.M.U. has been getting a grant of P50 000.This shows the thinking in the Ministry towards musicians; that musicians don’t need money but sportsmen and youth do. The Ministry has increased budgets of the BNSC and BNYC probably by 200% over the past 4 years but the arts budget is going down every year. The Arts must be budgeted in the national budget not alcohol levy as it is the case. The arts must be in the govt agenda including the Economic Diversification Drive. The Minister must take us seriously otherwise he must let us go to the Office of the President where probably we will get better attention and deal.
In conclusion the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture must be seen to be impartial in its allocation of funds, resources and energy. Curtrently it seems like only two sectors – Sports and Youth are high on the list of the Ministry’s Agenda.
There is a need for the Artists to be developed as well; they have a legitimate expectation because this Ministry was formed to serve them as well.
