Limkokwing disappoints artists

Artists were lured to enter the competition by catchy lines like 'convert that hobby of yours into a prize-winning entry' but up to now the winners have not been announced.

One of the entrants and award-winning author Lauri Kubuitsile is unhappy that the university 'hijacked' Vision 2016 yet did not live up to their promise to promote the arts in Botswana.

In newspaper adverts released last year, writers, visual artists, sculptors, song-writers, music composers, designers, business strategists and researchers were asked to visualise what Botswana may look like in the next 10 to 20 years and express that according to their different artistic persuasions. There were two categories, open and student categories, which had three prizes each. The overall winner was supposed to receive P 20,000 and a trophy.

Kubuitsile says she was motivated to enter the contest by the prize money but now she feels let down.

'How can these people claim to be following the pillars of Vision 2016 and yet do something to the contrary?' says Kubuitsile.

The author, who won herself the 'Author of the Year' award in last year's Orange Botswerere awards, has since withdrawn her entry and submitted it elsewhere.

Kubuitsile is also unhappy that one of the competition requirements was that entrants had to lose the copyrights to their works once they had entered the competition. She cautioned that artists should be careful not to handover their copyrights without first seeking legal advice.

The organiser of the competition, Kagiso Seloma, concedes that the competition did not go according to plan because despite having advertised the event, they failed to notify the public about the changes.

'There were not enough entries and we felt we could not award the prizes as envisaged.' Seloma adds that the competition is still on and that an announcement about it will soon be made.

The organiser says that in the spirit of botho, Limkokwing will apologise to the public for any inconvenience caused.

According to Seloma, the results should be announced before the end of next month.