04 Dec 2014

President of Botswana Musicians Union (BOMU) has lauded government’s continued support of the creative industry through the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture.

Speaking at the sponsorship launch for next weekend’s BOMU music awards, Phempheretlhe Pheto said this time around the awards will be different to the past five ones.

“We have significantly grown and people will be amazed at the progress we have made over the years,” he said. He indicated that the music industry in Botswana had grown but there still remained room for even more improvement.

Pheto said their mission as BOMU was to reward deserving artists who worked tirelessly on their craft. “I would also like to thank those that have over the years supported us and this event is about appreciating them and assuring them that their support is not taken lightly,” he said.

For his part, secretary general of BOMU, Pagson Ntsie said they always had a problem in securing sponsorship for BOMU. “The corporate world has not been helpful and we would like to call for more assistance especially from them,” he said, adding that government cannot do everything themselves. 

He said people needed to understand that BOMU was not a profit making organisation and as such they needed all the help they could get. Ntsie urged corporates to help musicians by endorsing them and turning them into brands.

“For the past 10 years, government has been the most visible supporter of the awards and it is important that people take these awards seriously,” he said. Speaking on the sponsors, Ntsie said the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture had pledged P500 000 as the main sponsor.

“The Department of Broadcasting Services will also partner with BOMU and the partnership is worth P400 000 and will be for five years,” he said. He indicated that Grand Palm has also chipped in and will house visitors for next week’s event at a discount and also the venue for the awards will be at GICC.

Ntsie also applauded Web tickets for coming to the fort and helping out. With the awards slated for next week Saturday, people will be looking to see who walks away with Album of The Year and Song of the Year.

In the Album of the Year category, Vee (Spernatural Vol 2) will be up against Dj Oats (House University Year 1), Maghebula (Gago sa ragwa ka lenao) and Thabang (Le Romile Mang). The song of the year will be contested by Euri (Mosadi), Maghebula ,ENDS