*Union back to take over from a dormant BOMU *Membership stands at over 250 and counting….
After 11 years of docility, Musicians Union of Botswana (MUSUBO) has bounced back and looks ready to shake-up the music industry.
The union that was founded in 2009 to rival Botswana Musicians Union (BOMU) is on a massive recruitment drive.
Led by the pragmatic Fumani Eddie Tekere, MUSUBO decided to strike while the iron is hot, electing to resuscitate their structures at a time when BOMU is till incapacitated.
BOMU, which is 9 years older than MUSUBO has been inactive since the ill-fated 2018 elections that were marred by controversy.
An interim committee led by veteran Taolo Moshaga was ordered by the Registrar of Companies Arbitration Council to prepare for an election of the executive committee in three months.
“It’s almost two years now and the interim committee has not delivered. As far as we are concerned, BOMU has ceased to exist. No one can claim to be running BOMU, said Raoboy Mpuang, MUSUBO interim Executive Committee General Secretary.
Mpuang said they formed MUSUBO in 2009 as a protest against rampant maladministration at BOMU.
“The ministry however intervened and brokered peace. We decided to suspend the initiative and pulled together as one under BOMU, but we’re back here. BOMU has died and MUSUBO remains the only union capable of leading musicians,” he said.
Mpuang said in two months since their return they have done so much in addressing issues of artists’ welfare.
“While BOMU was all about music awards, we are more concerned with artists’ welfare. We looked at issues such as contracts, legal representation and how musicians generally approach the music business. It can’t be business as usual. We can’t at the time when everyone is talking about the fourth Industrial Revolution have musicians who don’t have bank accounts,” Mpuang said.
“Stakeholders are ready to come on board and help local musicians as seen by the recent P1.5 million pledge by First National Bank. However to attract more businesses we first need to clean up our act,” he said.
In his remarks, Tekere who’s also the interim President said under MUSUBO artists will no longer struggle to get their dues after providing services.
“We’ll soon launch our partnership with a legal entity that will take care of all the legal needs of our members. We’re currently in the process of profiling our members to make it easy for consumers to download readily available information about their stars,” said Tekere.
The MUSUBO President further said they have registered over 250 members across all the four regions.
“We’ve 100 in Gaborone, 80 in Francistown, 30 in Kgalagadi and 60 in Maun and many more have shown a desire to affiliate with us,” he said.
“We also secured 80 food hampers, which were distributed in the four regions,” said Tekere.
He also revealed that MUSUBO was planning a meeting with broadcasters to discuss issues of genre to ensure that all genres get equitable airplay.
Unlike in 2009, MUSUBO is not going to back down even if BOMU bounces back, Tekere has said.
“The ministry is aware of our existence and I believe with close to 300 members, we have a very good reason to exist,” he said.
Some of the notable names under MUSUBO include Astley Gops and Tumza.
