15 Apr 2013

Kanye North MP, Mr Kentse Rammidi has urged government to source and service more land for residential purposes in and around urban centres.

Mr Rammidi said in Parliament on Friday that the only way to ease the problem of shortage of residence in cities and major villages was by finding more land.

Debating a motion calling for reservation of a quota of plots to people originating from areas where plots were being allocated, Mr Rammidi said there was a serious problem of shortage of residential plots in urban areas because of the commercial attraction they presented.

The MP also blamed government for exacerbating the problem by taking too long to allocate residential plots. “Government has compounded the issue of shortage of plots by making land such a scarce commodity to access. This issue should be solved by servicing more land and allocating it to the applicants,” he said.

Furthermore, he argued that there was plenty of land enough to meet the present demand. About the motion, Mr Rammidi said reserving a quota of land for people originating from areas where land was being allocated would not solve anything.

In fact, he said the practice would disadvantage land applicants originating from areas far away from urban centres. The MP also argued that a thorough land audit to find out people who hadmultiple plots and establishing means they used to obtain plots would help in solving the land issues.

The motion tabled last month by South East South MP, Mr Odirile Motlhale requested government to consider reserving a quota for locals of any land administrative area when allocating advertised residential plots.

Mr Motlhale had pointed that people originating from urban centres and surrounding areas struggled to access residential plot because of a high demand of plots in urban centres.

Therefore, he said having a certain quota of advertised plots for natives of areas where plots were being allocated would ensure that natives were not left out when plots were allocated in their villages.

Vice President, Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe said though the motion appeared well intended, it might not be ideal in future because it could bring tribal sentiments.

Dr Kedikilwe opined that people should be left to apply for land anywhere regardless of their villages of origin without any quotas placed. The MP for South East North, Mr Olebile Gaborone supported the motion.

Mr Gaborone argued that people from urban centres were disadvantaged in residential plot allocation by being made to compete for land with people who already had plots elsewhere.

MP for Kgatleng East, Mr Isaac Mabiletsa called on government to acknowledge the problem and find a way of solving it. He said it was wrong to have rich people owning multiple plots in urban centres while the youth had none. ENDS