03 Aug 2014

Parliament on Friday (August 1) rejected a motion by the Member of Parliament for Gaborone Central, Mr Dumelang Saleshando that called for a comprehensive land audit.


The motion wanted to establish factors that led to demand outstripping supply in most urban centres as well as establish land ownership patterns in the country.


Responding to the motion, the Minister of Lands and Housing, Mr Lebonaamang Mokalake said factors that contribute to demand outstripping supply include rural-urban migration, multiple ownership of land, shortage of serviced land and shortage of resources to service the land even where it was available.


Mr Mokalake said to deal with such challenges, the government has decided to involve the private sector in land servicing, providing more multi-residential plots so that plot developments could be done at such a high density as to provide more housing units within a limited space.


He also said the land policy as well as the Sectional Titles Bill that Parliament recently set aside were also geared towards addressing the challenge of land shortage in the country as they would address issues such as giving priority to first time land owners.


Mr Mokalake said the ongoing Land Administration Procedures, Capacity and Systems (LAPCAS) exercise was also geared towards solving all matters related to land shortage as it would address questions such as who owns how much land where, and for what particular purposes.


He said LAPCAS would also profile the citizenship of land owners in the country and history of how it was acquired. He added that the results would be used to assist on proper land management.


He said after the completion of the LAPCAS exercise, the expectation was that current land conflicts would be resolved, and cases would be reduced at the land tribunal and other courts and that all land rights would be ascertained.


However, Mr Saleshando complained that LAPCAS has been ongoing for a long time, and that even in areas where it has been piloted, the results have not been communicated to the nation.


He also castigated some MPs who pretend to support motions only to vote against them during the secret ballot.

He said this was deceiving the public as such MPs want to give the public an impression that they were representing their interests while they do not.
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