09 Sep 2014

As a way of promoting effective partnership with the community, Sefhare Sub-land board took its services to the residents of Ramokgonami and surrounding areas recently.

The chairperson of the sub land board, Mr Richard Segodi outlined the objectives of the road show as being to bring services closer to people and to impart knowledge to the community on the processes and procedures of the land board.

Mr Segodi said during the first kgotla meeting of their five-day road show at Ramokgonami that the services they provide included plot allocation, issuing of plot certificates, revenue collection, as well as adjudicating land disputes.

He said people would also have a chance to apply for infill plots, noting that the person who applies should consider that his or her plot would not obstruct any community activity.

He further said that for those who wanted to apply for boreholes should take into consideration that the allocation of boreholes were made six kilometers from existing ones.

He added that any application below the stipulated distance would not be considered.

“The land board is also facing some disturbing issues which include unpaid lease rental, undeveloped plots and selling of plots,” he noted, adding that the grace period for paying a commercial lease was one year after which lease rentals should be paid annually.

He said that residential plots that remained undeveloped for a period of five years after allocations would be repossessed.

He further noted that business plots undeveloped within a year of allocation were also repossessed.

Mr Segodi revealed that June 20, 2015 was the date recently set as the deadline for developing all undeveloped plots; as such, any plot that would remain undeveloped after the deadline would be repossessed.

“We also observed more plots transfers which indicate that people are selling their plots at an alarming rate, but I am not encouraging anyone to sell his or her plot,” he said.

The residents hailed the Sefhare sub land board for bringing the services closer to them. Mr Seduke Letsatsi, a resident at Ramokgonami confirmed the issue of selling of plots, saying the majority of people who were selling their plots were non-resident youth. ENDS