08 Jul 2015

Waiting lists of land applicants will become available to the public starting October this year. The Minister of Lands and Housing (MLH) Mr Prince Maele has told senior officials at his ministry that land boards across the country are going to be compelled to make their waiting lists public, especially for residential plots.

He said members of the public will be able to visit land boards to see where they are on the list.

Mr Maele, who was addressing a gathering of the ministry’s Leadership Forum in Gaborone on Tuesday (July 7), said the move seeks to restore public trust in land allocation. The Leadership

Forum was attended by senior officials from departments in the ministry.

“I urge land boards to clean up their lists because if they are not ready by October, they will be in trouble,” he cautioned.

The minister said he hopes that the move will promote transparency in land allocation following a litany of complaints over land allocation that spanned years.

He said when people talk about the MLH, they mostly complain about poor customer service.

Mr Maele further said the theme of the forum, Towards Service Excellence, is relevant as the ministry endeavours to improve service provision.

He said deliberate action should be taken to turn around the ministry’s quality of service delivery.

However, he noted that he was happy that complaints were slowly decreasing.

Delivering welcome remarks, MLH Permanent Secretary Mr Thato Raphaka pointed out that the forum was created to champion policy and strategic issues.

“It therefore makes perfect sense that we should be meeting here today to take stock of our activities,” he said.

He said the theme recognises that the ministry is committed to putting the customer first.

He said the theme speaks of their understanding that customer service is no longer an option.

Mr Raphaka said the focus of the ministry must always be the establishment of sustainable human settlements.

He emphasised that the ministry should develop strategies that promote land governance to improve access to land and housing. He also said the ministry’s services should be geared towards socio-economic development as opposed to being solely about allocation of land. Ends