22 Mar 2018

Botswana Gospel Music Awards (BOGMA) were launched on Wednesday in the presence of many gospel singers who are waiting in anticipation for the event that will awaken the gospel music in the country.

Speaking at the event, the elated BOGMA chairperson Gloria Dzwikiti said it was now official that the event would go as planned, noting that the sponsors were coming in droves in appreciation of the value of the awards.

Dzwikiti said BOGMA has sought the blessings of Botswana Music Union (BOMU), which is the umbrella body for musicians and has been organising awards for the past nine years. 

She said expectation was that these awards should be in the BOMU Awards standard so that more people can associate with them.

Dzwikiti, who is a gospel artiste, but has been laying low, decried that gospel in the country was not taken seriously while in neighbouring countries’ gospel music was at the heart of the people, particularly that gospel artistes themselves are united and know what their followers want.

Dzwikiti, who came up with these awards concept and tabled it before the Association of Gospel Musicians for assessment challenged gospel artistes to wake up and export their music just like other artistes. 

She said registration for the awards was on-going at a charge of P100 for each category. She also explained that there were 28 categories to choose from and BOGMA would, on May 15, present product launch that would reveal everything about the awards.

For his part, the event promoter Gilbert Seagile said the awards had attracted a lot of interest regionally to the extent that a plausible number of partnerships and sponsors have been reached while more are expected to come on board.

He said Christ 24tv had offered a sponsorship worth $100 000 through flouting adverts in major televisions across Europe and Asia. The television channel will also award a prize money of P20 000 to the best gospel artist.

Seagile said Kopanong FM Radio Station in Lehurutshe, South Africa had also offered a sponsorship of R250 000 BOGMA adverts. It will also conduct outside broadcasting during the awards ceremony.

In the interim, BOMU president Pagson Ntsie endorsed the awards and said his union as a mother body would commit to supporting the awards as they have the potential to bring change in the lives of many artistes. 

He however advised the organisers to engage pastors and their churches. A performing artist himself, he decried limited time allocated to festivities except only on Christmas and New Year’s day.

MP for Gaborone North, Haskins Nkaigwa, who pledged P5 000 and nominated councillor Kagiso Ntime said there was need for the community to fully rally behind the awards, more especially that Botswana was a Christian nation. They therefore challenged all those who had the means to abundantly give support. Ends