Africa-Press – Botswana. The creative industry has emerged as one of the sectors that have gotten increased cash injection according to the final budget estimates for the 2022-2023 financial year released this week. The sector has been given a P160m budget allocation as part of improvements to the Broadcasting Services Programme.
With the creative sector having been identified in recent government plans as a key priority area, the funding is expected to enable the national broadcaster to commission creative work from local artists. According to the estimates, the funds will be sourced from the Social Protection and Preparedness project, “which has shown a slow spending”. “There needs to be increase by P160, 000,000 from P345,600,000 to P505, 600,000 to cater for the activities planned for the 2022/23 financial year,” read the estimates. The requested funding is reportedly meant for facilitation of the creative industry project, which was introduced in the NDP 11 Mid Term Review and its addendum the Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan.
The cash injection into the project demonstrates what President Mokgweetsi Masisi had emphasised in most of his addresses about the creative industry and the need to pay more attention to it as a form of economic diversification. Masisi had announced last year during the State of Nation Address that the government would continue to explore avenues to empower Batswana creatives to facilitate their participation in the growth and diversification of the economy. The creative industry project came after Masisi said the government, through a creative art strategy, was commercialising the creative industry to include more Batswana in the lucrative wildlife and tourism filming and photography industry. “Another project scheduled for implementation during the course of the year is stimulating the ‘Creative Sector 2021’. The programme is targeting about three hundred and fourty two (342) artists. Through the project, government acquires arts and crafts for the National Permanent Art Collection, whose purpose is for education, research and posterity,” he further announced.
He further pointed out that the creative industry has great potential to contribute to Botswana’s economic diversification, employment and earn foreign exchange. During the address, Masisi also disclosed that funds amounting to P52.6 million under the Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan (ERTP) had been earmarked for the refurbishment of the Mass Media Complex as a way to cater for the creative industry. “The Mass Media Complex will be the hub for local film and television production. A feasibility study on the utilisation of the complex by locals is ongoing and is being conducted by a citizen owned company,” he said. Meanwhile, the latest budget allocation comes after the the P3.6m that was injected by Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) last year to help the creative industry grow through various projects. The projects were in film production, events management, music, photography and general entertainment. Also creatives were allowed to use their intellectual property to stand a chance to get CEDA loans of up to P50 million and not requiring collateral as it was the case before.
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