14 Mar 2013

Residents of Maokaatuma are at loggerheads with Maunatlala Sub-land board over allocation of boreholes along the north-south carrier pipeline.

Residents said during a kgotla meeting addressed by Maunatlala land board in Maokaatuma on March 12 that the boreholes were drilled in their area hence should be allocated to them.

Kgosi Diloro Diloro of Diloro said some people had been allocated the boreholes without consulting communities in that area.

He said the boreholes were allocated despite the fact that they were 2-3km apart, adding that allocation could be done when the boreholes were 6 km apart.

Another resident, Mr Mojaboswa Morolong accused some people who were allocated boreholes of corruption, alleging that such people had first-hand information thus managed to apply for boreholes before communities in that area.

He said such people never consulted with communities around the boreholes and continued to carry out developments without consulting the village leadership.

However, Maunatlala Sub-land board deputy secretary, Mr Boikhutso Boitumelo said the landboard allocated plots or boreholes to Batswana regardless of their home villages.

He said boreholes along the north-south carrier pipeline belonged to Department of Water Affairs (DWA) therefore those who were interested in applying for water rights should went through the DWA prior to filling in the land board application forms.

Mr Boitumelo said DWA should write a letter indicating that the boreholes were no longer in use, adding that the landboard could not allocate the borehole without consent from DWA.

He, however, that residents should understand that the letter from DWA did not mean that the land board could allocate the borehole rather it was meant to verify that the borehole was not in use.

Mr Boitumelo said the land board assessed the application first to establish the distance of the borehole applied for from existing boreholes in the same locality.

He said the land board policy was such that the borehole should be 6 km away from the next borehole, adding that if the borehole was less than six km apart from the next borehole then the application would be disapproved.

Mr Boitumelo said therefore that boreholes along the north-south carrier pipeline were less than six km away from each other hence the landboard could not allocate them.

He said before DWA drilled the boreholes, there were individual owned boreholes in that locality therefore allocating the boreholes would temper with those individuals’ rights.

Furthermore he said relief boreholes were not considered as boreholes as a result the land board issued relief boreholes’ owners with permits not a certificate, adding that a certificate was issued for the main borehole only.

He said relief owners were advised to pump water from the relief borehole to the main borehole because relief boreholes were not considered to be boreholes. ENDS