11 Jun 2015

Minister of Lands and Housing, Mr Prince Maele, has urged Lobatse residents to stop selling plots.

Speaking during a kgotla meeting in Lobatse recently, Mr. Maele urged residents to take care of their land.

He said selling of plots, especially residential, was worrisome just like in other places and that if Batswana were not careful in preserving land, the next generation would have nowhere to stay.

He advised residents to rent out their plots instead of selling them and to make wills on who to inherit their plots in case of death. Mr Maele pleaded with residents to support and advice his ministry on how best to manage land in Lobatse 

Minister Maele said his ministry was faced with challenges such as squatters in Diteneng area, which he said comprised light industrial plots and a productive place for brick moulding.

He said plans were underway to commercialise the area so as to attract interested developers. He said consultations were ongoing with the stakeholders to find ways of improving services in the town.

He noted that shortage of residential land in Lobatse was also caused by mountains that surrounded the town. However, he said these beautiful mountains were suitable for tourist activities. 

He said land cracking, such as in Pitikwe, Motswedi, Wood hall I and II also make it difficult and expensive to undertake some development projects in those areas. 

Mr Maele said some plots in Boswelatlou were to be registered after re-survey as there were some mistakes in the previous exercise and that delayed the drawing of the master plan for the area.

Mr. Maele said some plots at Pitikwe were to be registered in order to produce a Certificate of Registered State Title (CRST), classified as Civic and Community, Residential, Open Space and Commercial plots.

He said another challenge faced by his ministry is land management, allocation of plots and land servicing. He observed that it was expensive to service land while people do not develop it. 

He said such people were allowed to surrender their plots if they cannot afford to develop them on the specified period and they will be given another chance to re –apply. 

Present was Kgosi Mpaesele Itumeleng who also said abandoned plots cause conflicts between relatives in Lobatse. ENDS