18 Oct 2017

The mayor of Gaborone says everything is in place for two of Nigeria’s musical heavyweights in WizKid and Burna Boy to perform in the capital city on December 2 at the UB Stadium courtesy of Diamonds City Concerts.

Speaking at a press briefing, Kagiso Thutlwe said he was continuing the legacy of Gaborone City Council (GCC) of making Gaborone a diamond city that was started off by his predecessor, Haskins Nkaigwa.

He said Ringo Madlingozi, Sjava and Freshly Grounds all from South Africa would also be performing on the said date.

“Our main objective is to sell Gaborone to the rest of the world and promote urban tourism. We are located at the centre of Southern Africa and we need to show a bit of life so as to have people coming here to relax and have fun,” he said.

He said Gaborone has been dull and asleep and that they wanted to shake things up for Gaborone and resurrect its entertainment industry to become the go to city in SADC to mingle.

“All the international artists have been paid and contractual obligations taken care of so we do not foresee any trouble in that front,” he said.

The Charge d’ Affaires representative from the Embassy of Nigeria in Botswana, Sunday Aibor said everything with regards to visas for WizKid and Burna Boy had been sorted out, and that their representatives had confirmed that they would be in Gaborone on December 2.
Aibor said he was impressed with the mayor’s drive and dynamism in bringing life to Gaborone, adding that it was a welcome initiative.

He noted that events such as the mayor’s marathon were proof that Thutlwe was on the right track in bringing urban tourism to Gaborone and in the process stimulating the local economy.

Bruce Nkagile, the chief organiser of the event, said the Diamonds City Concerts was a prestigious event that was looking to bring to life the GCC’s vision of ramming up urban tourism.

“It has the potential to empower our citizens because of the trickle down effect and people earning something to move forward,” he said.

Nkagile noted that they had different types of tickets for people who want to attend the show.

“Early bird tickets are P250 for silver P350 gold and P2 500 VVIP,” he said, adding that they were limited and were already on sale.

He further said advanced tickets would be P300 silver, P450 gold and P2 500 VVIP, and that the final phase would be P350 silver, P500 gold and P2 500 VVIP.

“I urge people to get tickets early and revellers should also note that we will not be selling tickets at the UB Stadium on the day of the event. We will have a designated area away from the venue just so we are able to control traffic,” he said.

He noted that the road that passed in front of Avani to the UB circle would be closed to public usage so as to have a better control of traffic.

“Also, note that the reason why we choose UB Stadium was because we can manage to have different areas where people are searched adequately so we prevent anyone from bringing undesirable things to the venue,” said Nkagile.

He also said the GSS grounds would be used to park vehicles, and that they would be shuttled from there to the stadium and back when they want to leave.

“Security will be tight and we will not take any chances with people’s vehicles,” he said.

Speaking on the local acts to supplement the international artists, Nkagile said they would run a competition where people would vote for which local artists they wanted to see perform.

“We have a short code that we might use with SMS, and we are also looking to social media for people to vote. Latest day for us to start off the competition would be October 19 and maybe run it for a week or so,” he said.

The event is slated to start at 12noon and end at 6am the next day. Ends