Introduction

Popular culture and the creative industries are growing areas in Botswana. This is mainly due to the change in the political will to support these areas as part of the national development agenda for economic diversification. In 2011, the Botswana government established the cultural and creative industries as one of the sectors that drives the country's economy and underscored its potential to reinforce the move away from reliance on the mining and extractives industry. While this was a commendable decision on the part of the state, it is regrettable that several years later, there is still no policy that is used to drive the growth of the sector. Several programs and projects that are especially designed for the youth such as the Youth Development Fund, the Citizenship Entrepreneurial Development Agency, and the Economic Diversification Drive are in place but remain inaccessible to many. The youth remain vulnerable to the harsh realities of poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and exclusion. The reason for this, Thulaganyo Mogobe (2015) notes, is the lack of proper planning and the unavailability of resources and infrastructure needed for the sector. The biggest challenge, however, is mismanagement of resources, and failure to implement, monitor, and evaluate such government-initiated programs and projects. Due to this weakness, many of the well-intended initiatives to support young people in Botswana continue to fail. Hence, a country that has done relatively well, at least politically and economically, for the past fifty years of independence is now struggling to stay above water.

What is happening in Gaborone, Botswana's capital, is arguably commonplace and characteristic of the African postcolonial space in general. The persistent crises in Africa have been attributed to the negative impact of neoliberal policies by the World Bank and the IMF, especially the structural adjustment policies imposed on African countries since the mid-1980s. Aggressive privatization, mass retrenchments from the public sector, and the defunding of social services have all combined to create harsh conditions for Africans, especially those in urban spaces. The socioeconomic crises in Gaborone are only a reflection of a broader continent-wide problem arising from the inequities associated with neoliberal globalization. The country is wrestling to contain a plethora of challenges, including high youth unemployment, rising crime rates, staggering death statistics from road accidents and the HIV/AIDS pandemic, gender inequality, and poor governance.