23/08/2020
An inclusive economy bw
Valuing and supporting the creative sector is pivotal to its growth, as such, today I am asking the Minister of Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration to hear the cries of our talented creatives.
I reiterate my response to the 2019 Budget Speech that we must give the creative industry attention for its sheer ability to contribute to the economy. Jamaica serves as a positive benchmark for its focus on music and sports. Nigeria has done very well with television, producing 50 movies per week with an average of 130 people employed per movie. This is 6,500 jobs per week and 312,000 jobs per annum. Fundamentally, and importantly, they initially exhibited a lot of tolerance and allowed for mistakes and lower quality, eventually developing into a strong industry. This is what we can do with Botswana Television.
Please give BTV One Hundred Million (P100,000,000) every year for the next 5 years to purchase local content. At the end of the 5 years, I can assure you, we will have a Botswood that can sustain itself, driving serious employment in the arts and creative sector.
******This is the question on today’s Order Paper:*******
2. MR. T. LETSHOLO, MP. (KANYE NORTH): To ask the Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration why Botswana Television (Btv) continues to air old foreign content as opposed to locally produced content; and to state:
(i) what Btv is doing to promote local content and local programmes generation and production to contribute to reducing unemployment;
(ii) how much Btv has spent annually on purchasing local content and foreign content over the last 5 years;
(iii) in percentage terms, how much time does Btv currently broadcast local content versus foreign content; and
(iv) what is the target percentage of local content broadcast versus foreign content.(350)
