People And Power: Botswana President Nominated For African Muzik Award

Botswana President Ian Khama, who has been described as an artist at heart, was nominated for an award at the upcoming 2015 Africa Muzik Magazine Awards StarAfrica reports.

Khama was nominated for the Transformational Leadership Award for his support of arts and culture. The AFRIMMA awards are scheduled for Oct. 10 in Dallas, Texas.

“Our president has done a lot contributing towards the arts,” said Gilbert Seagile, CEO of Gilbert Promotions in a WeekendPost report. “He has commercialized polka music, he has influenced the Khawa Dunes and he also likes dancing.”

The Khawa Dune Challenge and Cultural Festival is a tourism and family event involving quad and motorbike challenges across Botswana’s Khawa sand dunes. There are also camel races, camel rides and cultural activities showcasing the Kgalagadi cultures.

As for polka, well, Khama loves the dance. Thanks in part to Khama’s efforts, the European dance — it originated in 19th-century Bohemia and made its way to Southern Africa via European settlers — is recognized among Botswana’s traditional dances, according to  MmegiOnline.

Any leader who promotes creative arts can be nominated for AFRIMMA’s Transformational Leadership Award, according to the WeekendPost. A Nigerian governor won it in 2014.

Khama is an artist at heart who sees the music industry as an opportunity for economic diversification, said Zenzele Hirschfield, president of the Botswana Entertainment Promoters Association.

“Our president contributes significantly to the creative industry, and we have just celebrated the President’s Day competition which empowered a lot of artists, especially youth,” Hirschfield said in TheVoiceBW.

Music is business and music is entrepreneurship, Hirschfield added.

Other Botswana artists who have been nominated at the AFRIMA awards include Game Bantsi aka Zeus and Odirile Sento aka Vee for the best Southern African Male Artist. Punah Gabasiane-Molale and Samatha Mogwe-Kitlanang have been nominated for Best Southern African Female Artist,

Source: TheVoice BW

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