06 Nov 2025

Government is committed to transform Botswana into a global hub for sport, culture and creative industries, an environment  where talent can  contribute to sustainable economic prosperity.

In order to propel the growth of the country through the sport and creative industries sector, Minister of Sports and Arts, Mr Jacob Kelebeng said emphasis would be placed on sector sustainability, stakeholder partnerships, cultural heritage and creative industry.

He said growth in this sectors would be supported by increased investment in infrastructure for sport development and the creative arts, as well as creating enabling legislation and policies to improve efficiency.

Minister Kelebeng made the remarks in Parliament on Tuesday, presenting the estimated budget for the ministry’s proposed programmes and projects under NDP 12.

He said sport and creative industries sector remain underdeveloped due to lack of comprehensive policy framework that supports local content, under-investment, sub-optimal infrastructure development and lack of appropriate technology.

“A number of cross-cutting challenges in the sector including the regulatory framework, inadequate funding, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) and the reporting system stifle the growth of the sector resulting in inaccurate reporting, especially its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product,” he said.

 He noted that the reporting system was not standardised across agencies and the value chain contribution remain unaccounted for.

 In order to propel the growth of the sport and creative industries sector, Minister Kelebeng thus requested for funds amounting to P6.1 billion to be approved and stand part of NDP 12.

He said the bulk of the requested funds amounting to over P5.8 billion was requested for infrastructure developmental projects including the construction of a 10 000 capacity multi-purpose indoor sport arena, 40 000 seating capacity stadium, outdoor recreational spaces, Francistown stadium roof, 5-Aside football grounds in schools and national horse racecourse among other projects. He said refurbishment of facilities was critical to support sector development programmes and initiatives.

“During NDP 12, focus will be on refurbishing the existing sporting infrastructure and developing community-based facilities for optimal use and for grassroots development to thrive,”he said.

With regard to the film industry, Mr Kelebeng said a dedicated film commission would play a crucial role in developing a culture of film making in Botswana and regulating the film and television industry while promoting Botswana as a preferred filming destination.

He said the responsibilities of the film commission would include; regulating the film and television industry, marketing Botswana as a film destination, promoting film tourism, facilitating co-productions and partnerships and supporting incentive programmes.

He likewise noted that investment in infrastructure and provision of equipment tailored to the needs of the creative industry would foster growth for high-quality creative content production.

Furthermore, he said production facilities and recording infrastructure would be supported to raise domestic production quality. ENDS