Botswana Musicians Union announces new board members

The new committee comprises artists and industry professionals and will be led by musician Phemelo Lesokwane, who will serve as union’s president. Lesokwane will be deputised by guitarist Papie Kaone Rakhudu and arts professional Letsweletse Moshabi, who will both serve as vice-presidents of administration and finance, respectively. Writer and theatre activist Rasina Winfred Rasina is the new secretary-general.

Other board members include DJ Fondo Fire, Afro-jazz artist Boitumelo Siile and Botswana Gospel Music Awards organiser Gloria Dzwikiti.

“I feel honoured to have been elected to the position of BOMU president,” Lesokwane told Music In Africa. “I am honoured that Botswana musicians have shown confidence in me to transform the music industry for the better. I intend to do exactly that – I want to cause the industry to transform itself such that it is in a position where it best serves the interests of artists, most importantly improving their economic benefits from their work.”

Commenting on the challenges faced by local artists to penetrate the global scene, Lesokwane said: "In order to significantly improve its standing on the global stage, the Botswana music industry must produce great musicians. One becomes a good musician by producing good music. To produce good music, musicians need a conducive environment and good facilities. Like any other business, the industry must also be globally networked and my leadership is going to strive to change the present situation for the better.”

He added: “There are many challenges and I cannot exhaust their list here. I must, however, point out that we will soon announce our strategy, which is a document that is going to serve as our roadmap of what we are going to do during our office tenure. Many challenges afflicting the industry will be addressed in the strategy, and I must mention one of them, which is piracy. Botswana has laws that deal with piracy, but it is being continuously carried out with impunity by some people. We are going to lead in fighting music theft.”

BOMU has been embroiled in a series of wrangles between the union’s executive committee and its members over the years. The union has been dysfunctional since 2018 when some members took the music body, which was led by Pagson Ntsie at the time, to the Advisory and Arbitration Council, which ordered an interim committee to be elected to rebuild legitimate structures at BOMU.