18 May 2020

Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development (MYSC) has reserved more than P70 million for support of youth businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Briefing the media about economic support to youth microenterprises, sport and the creative sector on Monday May 18, the Minister Mr Tumiso Rakgare said the economic relief funds were designed to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

This is for youths who do not qualify for subsidies as per the conditions set by the COVID-19 Economic Advisory Committee.
 
Mr Rakgare said although the relief would not be enough, it was meant to assist the athletes, arts and culture practitioners and youth businesses to have something to live with in the meantime.

The minister also said they were intervening with relief initiatives to support youth businesses to bridge the gap so that youth companies, the sport and creative industries would not collapse. 

He said if youth business were to be overlooked, it would result in over 11 000 people losing their jobs and revenue sources. 

Concerning the sporting codes, Mr Rakgare said the ministry would pay P2500 each for full time employees and professional athletes over a period of three months and the total cost would be P4 306 500 of the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) budget.
 
Mr Rakgare pointed out that the Botswana Premier League (BPL), First Division League (FDL), both north and south and the Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) had been most affected by the current extreme social distancing regulations. 

He said as most teams relied on gate takings and match fees, they would not have financial reserves to sustain them during COVID-19 as there were no activities. 

Minister Rakgare stated that the wage subsidy would cover the 16 teams with BPL, 24 teams of FDL and 15 elite professional athletes and affected full time sport employees. 

Regarding the youth enterprises, Mr Rakgare said the relief for youth entrepreneurs would pay P1 500 wage subsidy for an estimated 8533 employees over a period of three months, which adds up to P38 488 500 of the Youth Development Fund (YDF) budget allocation.

He stated that the YDF funded youth businesses were also experiencing the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, indicating that most of them had closed for business, leaving employees and owners without a source of income.
 
As for the Arts and Culture sector, Mr Rakgare said the relief for the arts would pay P2 500 wage subsidy for each employee and professional artist over a period of three months. 

“All professional artists that are registered with COSBOTS will be assisted with P2 500 every month for a period of 3 months” he said, and urged other artists to register with the copyright society.
 
He said upcoming artists would receive a P1000 relief allowance, saying the total cost would be P27 227 000.
 
Mr Rakgare noted that a number of income streams such as festivals, exhibitions, Expos and fairs both locally and internationally had been closed.

This he said resulted in loss of income for the arts and culture practitioners whose lives were dependent on their artistic skills as well as those working on contract basis. 

He urged other youths of microenterprises, sport and the creative sector to contact the youth office for clarity. Ends