03 Mar 2015

Rolong Land Board is experiencing very low turnout of applicants for residential plots in most of its villages, the Good Hope sub-council chairperson Ms Mmmaobene Molefhi has revealed during the opening of the sub council seating in Good Hope last week.

Ms Molefhe told the house that it was only in villages such as Good Hope and Pitsane where there were better turn-ups for land allocation interviews.

“Only commercial or industrial plots applications show a significant attendance for interviews by applicants”, she said.

Ms Molefe noted that in the past quarter of the current financial year, the board received 135 residential, 40 industrial and 27 commercial plot applications only.

She stated that of all the 234 plots that were allocated in the past quarters, 96 of the plots were allocated to youth for different uses.

This, she said was a way of empowering youth in order for them to access different initiatives that government has put in place.

The sub council chair also informed the house that the Rolong Landboard had received and resolved 14 disputes since April 2014, adding that most of the disputes were mainly about ploughing field boundaries.

Most of such fields, she said were those which were allocated by bogosi before the establishment of land boards.

She therefore pleaded with councillors to encourage plot owners from respective villages to register their old allocations with the landboard to reduce disputes.

Ms Molefe also expressed concern on the frequency and high rate of land transfers taking place in the area, saying, from April to December last year, 231 plots comprising 153 residential, 68 ploughing fields, and 8 commercial plots, had been transferred from their original owners to new owners.

“This trend is a serious problem as most of the people are losing land rights which they could at least lease out to investors as compared to transferring them”, she said.

He urged councilors as well as officers to conduct public education in order for the community to see the need to own land and for it to remain in their hands.

Ms Molefe also expressed concern on the significant amount of arrears owed by leases, revealing that currently the lease rental arrears stood at about P3 million, which is a cause for concern as the amount increases annually.

She said the amount was increased by the fact that most plots were not developed and thus defaulters reluctant to pay while other business plots were developed and later left to ruin when the businesses collapsed.

However, she said the board continued to send statements annually through telephonic messages and to the last addresses to remind lease holders about their arrears.

She encouraged the councillors to assist the board in encouraging lease holders to update their statements.

The sub council chairperson informed the house that this ploughing season saw close to 8 000 hectares being ploughed by 1 868 farmers with close to 2 000 hectares being ploughed by 5 00 youths.

This, she said showed a decline from the past planting season which had 12 000 hectares being planted by 2 776 farmers.

On poverty eradication issues, the sub council chairperson stated that there were 105 funded projects of which 54 were operational, while 10 were under construction.

Out of all the projects, she said only one project failed while 40 of them were non-operational for various reasons such as awaiting quotations to process water connection.

As the end of the 2014/15 financial year comes to an end, Ms Molefe urged all departments to spend according to their budget and also encouraged project managers to implement projects according to the plans without compromising the quality of the projects.

She challenged all to work together as a team to bring change that will develop the sub district. ENDS