LETLHOGILE MPUANG
Dragging sponsorship talks between MTN Business and organizers of Fables Fest are the alleged cause of delays in hosting this year’s event. Since its inception in 2015, the music festival was seen as a breath of fresh air in the local entertainment industry with its focus on bringing A list Hip Hop acts to the country including American rapper Rick Ross who headlined the 2016 show while platinum selling Nigerian star Tekno brought the house down at last year’s show.
However, with just less than three months left in the year, it still remains unclear whether the festival will stage its 2018 show as there seem to be no signs of preparations in sight. According to anonymous sources, the event which was in the past sponsored by MTN Business has been making consecutive losses in past stagings and organizers are skeptical about hosting this year’s event.
In 2016 Kenneth Matlholwa, Fables Fest main organizer told a press conference that they had invested over a million Pula to get Rick Ross to Botswana. It later emerged that though the organizers had been banking on a large turnout, which would see them recuperate their expenses, only a disappointing number turned out for the event.
The following year (2017), despite a change in date from December to October the show still did not make as much as it was expected. In an interview, Matlholwa declined to comment on his event, stating that he was very busy. “I can’t say anything now, but if there is something that will be happening we will announce it on our social media platforms,” he briefly told Time Out.
For his part, MTN Business Public Relations & Marketing Officer Emmanuel Mabutho was also economical in his comment, only revealing that there is some intention to host the event this year. “We do not have a deal with them this year. We are still engaged in talks, but yes they (Fables) want to host the event again this year,” he said, adding that he was not in a position to reveal when their agreement will be finalized.