16 Jun 2014

Mogoditshane residents have called upon government to urgently come up with measures that will address the pervasive problem of people who sell their residential plots.

At a kgotla meeting addressed by area Member of Parliament, also Assistant Minister of Education Skills and Development, Mr Patrick Masimolole at Tlapalanoga Ward recently, the residents expressed worry at the rate which Batswana were selling off their plots to strangers, only to remain landless in their own country.

They urged government to put in place a specific policy that will address selling of land, as a way of curbing this worrisome trend.

One of the residents, Ms Obakeng Boikanyo, said the current policy should be amended to make it very difficult for Batswana to sell their residential plots. “The most painful thing is that people who sell their plots end up living in poverty, with no homes, after squandering their money within a few days,” she said.

The residents were responding to concerns that were raised by Mr Masimolole about rampant selling of residential plots in the country. He said people are after money and fail to realise that property is a valuable and appreciating asset. Mr Masimolole added that he was recently shocked to learn that of the 500 residential plots that were recently allocated to some villagers in his constituency, 400 were sold immediately.

“Land is a finite resource. Those who sell their land will live to regret it because one day there will be no more land for them,” he said. He also warned that those who sell land only reverse the gains made by the country. He cautioned them that they will end up as outcasts in their motherland, led by strangers they don’t understand.

Still at the meeting, an official from the Ministry of Lands and Housing, Mr Cornelius Kaizer, urged residents to register their plots as it helps in the mapping of the country.  ENDS