25 Nov 2015

The Land Tribunal has issued an order for Kweneng Land Board  (KLB) and Kweneng District Council (KDC) to remove fence at a disputed plot between them and Mr Clement Kgosiemang.

The Land Tribunal president, Ms Boitumelo Kaisara, ordered for a default judgement to allow the appellant chance to apply for a rescission within 30 days before the judgement could  be effected. 

The order was made following an application by KLB and KDC lawyers Yamikani Patson and Alfred Baikakedi who called for the dismissal of Mr Kgosiemang’s application after he failed to show up when the matter was called before the Land Tribunal.

The two attorneys said the Land Tribunal had to bring the matter to finality, adding that the appellant was deliberately making delayed tactics by constantly failing to show up three times and that he was aware that the land in question was self-allocated and therefore did not have valid grounds for appeal.

At the helm of the case was Mr Kgosiemang, who had taken both the land board and district council after the former had ruled that a piece of land allocated for the use of  the cemetery at Ratlhomelang ward, Magokotswane ward in Molepolole belonged to him. 

KDC on behalf of Ratlhomelang village development committee had approached KLB for recourse after Mr Kgosiemang, without consent of the residents, fenced a 6.26 peace of land allegedly allocated to the area’s VDC. 

Former Ratlhomelang headman Mr Mokopotsa and a resident of Magokotswane are the only people who were buried in the disputed area before it was fenced by Mr Kgosiemang.

His grounds of appeal were that KLB erred in law, when it held that he did not have any land rights nor conferred land rights on the property that was the subject of the dispute. 

He also said KLB also conferred when he held that KDC was properly allocated the plot in dispute for use of a cemetery when there was no evidence to that effect.     

Mr Kgosiemang through his court papers argued that KLB erroneously made an order compelling the appellant to remove the fence or other development he might have effected on the property which is the subject of dispute.

Another error he said was over the fact that KDC had no right over property in dispute when the latter had not compiled with requirement of both the Tribunal Land Act and the Town and Regional Planning in that no allocation was made in favour of KDC, and if so any land use plan was ever approved by the minister or gazetted as required by the law.  

The Land Tribunal panel included Messers Gomolemo Tobedza and Kebalepile Rutherford. Ends