Lekopanye Mooketsi
3 April 2008
The new Botswana Music Union (BOMU) executive is embarking on a comprehensive familiarisation tour of the country to meet with various artistes and other stakeholders.
BOMU publicity secretary Joel Keitumile revealed that the programme got off the ground when they met with Department of Youth and Culture officials this week. He said the department is one of the most important stakeholders as BOMU receives an annual subvention of P60,000 from government.
Keitumile said officials of the department told them that the previous committee had been doing a fine job. He said despite the fact that some people did not say good things about the old committee, Youth and Culture officials were happy with its performance. He said the department promised to work with the new committee.
As part of the new committee's familiarisation tour, Keitumile will address artistes in Maun at the Trekkers Night Club on Saturday. He hopes to persuade them to join BOMU. He believes artistes stand to benefit more by joining the organisation. At the end of the meeting, BOMU's Maun representatives will be elected.
A similar meeting has already been held in Jwaneng and the BOMU official said they are targeting more areas because BOMU should not be seen to be active only in Gaborone.
Another project in the pipeline is the establishment of a group insurance cover for artistes. BOMU is trying to identify an appropriate insurance company for the purpose.
Keitumile stated that during their meeting, officials of the Department of Youth and Culture had advised them about the importance of such an insurance fund.
He said they want to avoid a situation whereby people have to contribute money for an artiste who dies. On other issues, the BOMU official said they do not want to confine their activities to the annual music awards. "The union is not only for awards. The music awards are only one aspect of our activities," he emphasised.
Keitumile said they also want to market local artistes outside the country and hold talks with record labels and artistes who are not been BOMU members. Another outstanding matter concerns Kwasa Kwasa giant Franco, who was suspended by the previous committee. Franco was banned after a misunderstanding at last year's BOMU awards ceremony. He was one of the artistes who protested the manner they were treated and ended up storming out of Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC) hall where the event took place. Keitumile said the new committee is eager to resolve this matter.
The BOMU official said the issue of elections will also be addressed. Analysts and artistes have been questioning the new committee's legitimacy because only a few members voted in the February annual general meeting.
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