17 Feb 2015

The Minister of Lands and Housing, Mr Prince Maele, has told Parliament that Diseta Island is a tribal land under the authority and administration of Tawana Land Board.

Responding to a question in Parliament, Mr Maele said just like all tribal land elsewhere, it was a communal resource held in trust for the community and the beneficial ownership of a residential plot on the island has been allocated .

Regarding the directors or individuals who have been allocated the plot, he referred to the Tribunal Land Act and regulation 7 (2) of the Land Tribal Regulations, which he said makes public and open for inspections, all meetings and certificates issued under the Customary Land Rights. 

Mr Maele noted that Standing Order 38.1 (m) provides guidance in terms of the contents of a question in that; “A question shall not be asked seeking information which can be found in accessible documents or ordinary works of reference and which is readily available on official publications.

He said that the rights referred thereto were granted in August 1991 for the residential purposes and the certificate of customary grant was issued by Tawana Land Board in 1993. Available records, he said, do not indicate any other candidates who had applied for a land including unsuccessful candidates and the application for the land was therefore dealt with procedurally by the land board.

Selebi Phikwe West MP, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse had asked the minister whether Diseta Island in Shakawe is privately owned or considered a shared communal resource. 

If privately owned, he wanted the minister to state the company as well as directors that own the island or individuals that own the island and when it was allocated. Mr Keorapetse had further wanted to know who applied including unsuccessful candidates and if all procedures on the allocation of shared natural resources were followed by the land board. ENDS