25 Aug 2015

Tonota Sub Land Board has received 10 000 applications for residential plots from Tonota, Shashe and Borolong residents alone.

Tonota Sub-district Council chairperson, Colonel Anderson Moalosi announced during a sub-council meeting recently in Tonota, adding that the huge number of applications was a challenge considering the shortage of land in the area.

He appealed to applicants to remain patient while land authorities try all they could to address the challenge. He said they were currently requesting idle land from owners although they were uncooperative.

The civic leader lamented that the sub district was faced with challenges of squatters, adding that after its last sitting in June, the sub land board decided to evict squatters at Mabesekwa after investigations.

He said a total of 375 plots were being monitored for development, adding that out of the total, 227 plots had been developed.

Furthermore, he said 148 plots still remained undeveloped after 15 years of allocation. Col Moalosi urged councillors to encourage their voters to develop their plots. 

He said the Ministry of Lands and Housing has taken a decision to create waiting lists of applications for residential plots in all land boards countrywide.

On other issues, Col Moalosi highlighted that water connection had improved as Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) had managed to connect 9 600 applicants, and that the backlog currently stands at 395.He said the backlog of water connections was due to the challenge of land servicing as some wards had no water reticulation network.

“Customers have been given the option to do their own excavation to speed up connections up to 50 metres long even though the connection fee does not go down,’’ he noted.  

Col Moalosi stated that the department had managed to install prepaid public standpipes at Tonota, Foley, Mabesekwa, Borolong, Chadibe and Shashe Mooke.

He said that was done after consultations with the community and registrations for tokens were ongoing to help reduce water wastage. ENDS