Soul Fill Up Festival requires P1.2m

  • Organisers have raised only 40% of amount required
  • Franco will perform three times
  • Organisers strive for incident-free event

GOSEGO MOTSUMI

With only a few days left until local rumba sensation Franco Lesokwane makes another historic move of filling the National Stadium with revellers, the organising team has raised only 40% of the required budget, Time Out has established.
The festival requires a huge financial outlay of P1.2 million and the organising team is pulling out all the stops to stage the much-anticipated show.
“We still a huge challenge of money and are knocking on doors,” said the event’s sponsorship coordinator, Gaone Dixon. “If I look at the money we have been able to raise, it does not even cover 40% of the budget. So we encourage everyone who all the help.”
Slated for 2 April at the National Stadium in Gaborone, First National Bank Botswana has committed P250 000 for paying all the local artists performing alongside the much-acclaimed King of Kwasa, the Department of Broadcasting Services (Btv and RB2) has pledged P220 000 worth of airtime while a South African company, PSI, has committed R150 000 to the show.
Other sponsors of the music festival are Sebego Attorneys, Colours of Sounds, Native Events and LED Works.
Said Dixon: “The Ministry of Youth had sponsored the event with P120 000 before it was postponed in 2020. We suffered a huge setback when it was postponed, thanks to the advent of COVID-19.
“The event faced new challenges when the industry was re-opened because some sponsors who had showed interest were crippled by the pandemic and the re-opening of the industry required us to comply with the new COVID-19 regulations that come at a cost.”
Because of the increasing crime rate in the country and at entertainment spots, the festival brought Security Systems on board as another sponsor to ensure an incident-free show. To bolster the security of patrons further and raise the PR and marketing of the event, Godwin Sebina says flying drones will capture footage.
“Security is our top priority,” Sebina emphasised. “We are also living in the times of social distancing so we will not therefore be filling the stadium to capacity. Tickets are selling like hot cakes. We had sold 5 000 tickets before the postponement and they are still valid.”
For his part, the indomitable Franco says he is ready for his three performances at the show. His first performance is scheduled for 5pm, the second at midnight and the final one staged at 5am.
“This does not mean I will give any performance less attention,” he told Time Out. “I just want those who can’t stay until midnight or early morning to also have a chance to see me perform.
“We have also partnered with the Ministry of Health and I will be spreading vaccination messages throughout. It is important that we get vaccinated because I don’t want my show to spike infections.”