COSBOTS pours cold water on "infighting" rumours

A team of artists who are also COSBOTS board members has dismissed the allegations that they want to be COSBOTS board members.

At a press conference that was held last week, the famous Zeus, real name Game Goabaone Bantsi, clarified that none of the artists want to be a board member but they rather expect better governance from board members.

This came after the chaos at COSBOTS, which coordinates the musicians of Botswana and empowers them to be owners and decision makers, when artists complained that they are not satisfied with the royalties that they receive from management.

Zeus explained that their profession as artists is to perform and embrace the entertainment industry with good and quality work. A few representatives of over 1000 COSBOTS member artists who were present at the press conference said that they are not satisfied with their royalties and the sitting board, whose term they said had expired.

COSBOTS currently does not have a sitting board, the term of office for the Board expired on September 2nd 2016 following the appointment by members on extra ordinary general election meeting which was held on November 2nd 2016. “Furthermore, Patrick Setsiba resigned on January 4th leaving the composition with only five directors.

The organisation’s constitution clearly states that there shall be a minimum of six and a maximum of 22 directors, therefore the present directors’ business transactions when they do not meet requirements of the constitution is unlawful,” reads the press statement. However, one of the board members, Barolong Seboni, stated that none of the board members is refusing to leave the office. “We are only waiting for the Annual General meeting, where we will re-elect the new board like it is a norm with any organisation, and we have discussed this with COSBOTS members during the previous meeting,” he said.

Seboni said they had explained how a member earns their royalties at a previous meeting. Zeus noted that as artists they are looking forward to getting new board members who they hope will adhere to their interests and inspire them to continue doing a great job and making a positive impact in the music and arts industry of Botswana.