04 Mar 2013

A motion by Gaborone Central MP, Mr Dumelang Saleshando that sought a land audit did not see the light of the day after Parliament rejected it on Friday.

Mr Saleshando had tabled a motion that requested government to carry out a comprehensive land audit in all urban, peri-urban, freehold farms and tourism frontier settlements with the objective of establishing ownership, values, tenure and synergy between planned and actual use.

Ten members deliberated on the motion; five from the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and five across the aisle while two were reserved as to whether they should go for or against a land audit.

After the debate, Parliament was divided as to whether to carry out a land audit or not.

That culminated in members voting; which saw 29 of them against the proposed land audit while 13 supported it. Prior to voting, and in response to the debate, Mr Saleshando said he was happy that 80 per cent of members supported the motion.

The MP still maintained that the recently launched Land Administrative Procedures Capacity and System (LAPCAS) was not a land audit.

Though he said it was a good starting point to have all pieces of land registered or have some identification numbers and have all systems computerised, he however said an audit was still important in that it sniffed out some mischief.

He also argued that information intended by LAPCAS already existed in terms of state land in Gaborone, but even with such a system in place, it still was surprising that one individual could end up getting hundreds of plots when others were on the waiting lists for many years.

That, he said was because an audit has never been done arguing that the exercise should say how a decision of acquiring land was arrived at. Also, the MP said there was a striving black market which he argued would not be addressed by the LAPCAS initiative.

Assistant minister of Health, Mr Gaotlhaetse Matlhabaphiri had debated against having land audit arguing that there was no need for it because the ministry of Lands and Housing was already on progress to that effect through LAPCAS.

On the other hand, Chobe MP, Mr Gibson Nshimwe had conquered with Mr Saleshando on the need to carry out a comprehensive land audit. ENDS