07 Dec 2015

Chobe Land Board chairperson, Mr Nelson Masule has encouraged Chobe residents to register their land to avoid disputes.

Speaking at a board meeting recently, Mr Masule said the reason for the board meeting was to come together and settle tribal land related issues such as applications, problems in the development of land, land transfers and land allocation of the deceased.

“One of the problems we encounter as the board is where people refuse to move out of land earmarked for developments as this causes delays,” he stated.

The chairperson said owners whose lands were affected by new developments were either compensated with money or moved to a new available land.

However, he noted that some people refuse to accept the offered compensation and refuse to move, citing that they had gotten used to their land and find it difficult to adjust to new land.

The board also reported cases where people refuse to hand over leases of land they were allocated after failing to develop the land when it was repossessed.

He said some defaulters develop the already repossessed land to stop the land overseers from taking the land from them.

Another issue raised was that people do not attend meetings called by the land board to address them.

He said this usually occurs when developments such as roads affect some of the owners’ property hence they have to be reduced in size to accommodate such developments.  

The deputy chairperson of the land board, Mr Montle Magosi noted that a lot of people do not understand the right procedure for land allocation hence they present complaints against the land board claiming that they were being denied land. ENDS