01 Jul 2014

Tati Land board has decried the high number of cases involving illicit land deals.

This is especially true for Tati Siding where the land board said a lot of people have been swindled of their hard earned cash by unscrupulous land dealers who sometimes sell one plot to multiple individuals.

Speaking during a roadshow in Tati Siding on June 25, the Tati Land Board vice chairperson, Mr Godfrey Habana explained that because the North East District was experiencing shortage of serviced land, people who were desperate to own residential plots found themselves falling prey to illegal land dealers.

He also acknowledged that though they took time to respond to applications for land, at times they had to ensure that all operations were free from corruption.

“Corruption in Botswana is spreading at an alarming rate. Villages such as this one have a lot of cases reported to the Botswana police and the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime on illicit land dealings,” he noted.

He said Tati Siding was the most affected village, hence the need to exercise caution at all times. He also mentioned that they also have a challenge of people who are failing to develop their plots within the required five years.

As for the road show, he explained that its objective was to accelerate service delivery and transparent governance and to support their clients in the realisation of their goals as some do not have the resources to visit their offices in Masunga. 


The event, he noted, allowed them to interact with the public and raise awareness on the services rendered by the land board.

He highlighted that they wanted to strengthen ties between the board and the communities they served and to also get feedback in order to improve the quality of decision making by the board.


As custodians of tribal land, Mr Habana said it was imperative to periodically come together and share ideas.


For his part, Kgosi Simon Nkgageng of Tati Siding expressed delight at the land board for bringing services to the village. He decried the fact that some Batswana were selling scarce land to foreigners and urged them to conserve land for future generations.


During the two day road show, the land board issued land certificates, listened to complaints and disputes and also re-identified plots to those who required the services. ENDS