06 Jun 2016

Acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Lands and Housing, Mr Bareng Malatsi says the chunk of land owned by Tati Company in the North East of the country was obtained from dikgosi and it would be difficult for the government to take it without monetary compensation.

Responding to a question from a member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Mr Ignatius Moswaane last Friday, Mr Malatsi said it was unfortunate that this faceless owner of the land, who was backed by the colonial land act, could not be called to account on how much land he possesses.

Mr Malatsi however could not state whether the company possesses a land lease, a primary document which could indisputably show that the company owns the land and what amount of land it holds.

Mr Moswaane, who is also MP for Francistown West, wanted to know whether Tati Company has lease for the land it possesses because every time a person wants land in the area, the company resurfaces. 

Mr Malatsi said his ministry continued to buy land for allocation from the company and would continue to do so whenever funds become available.  He noted that it was their wish that they could buy land in mass to meet the high demand. 

He however raised a concern about the ever escalating land prices.

On other issues, he acknowledged that plot waiting list in the country was well over one million; a number which he said could be exacerbated by the fact that some people have presented more than one land applications. 

At the moment, he said they were able to service 10 000 plots per year.

He also explained that State House was built on state land, adding that Ntshe House in Francistown is occupied, but, did not say who owns the Glen valley BDF camp plot. 

The ministry, he said had so far registered 385 000 plots nationwide, adding that the move would afford owners to have access to financial institutions as they would have certificates equivalent to a lease. 

Further, Mr Malatsi said the ministry would continue to provide accommodation through SHHA and Turn Key programmes. He however said they were still awaiting guidelines on SHHA housing scheme for D4 scale downwards for public officers.

Meanwhile, appearing before PAC, the Independence Electoral Commission (IEC), deputy secretary, Ms Keireng Zuze said IEC is yet to become a corporate body.

Ms Zuze said in 2009, authority was granted to IEC to turn into a corporate body and the process was still under facilitation. “Because the process for IEC to become a corporate body is taking long, we are of the view to resuscitate the 2014 approved structure,” she said.

Ms Zuze said the core mandate of IEC was to conduct and supervise general elections for elected members of parliament and local government.

She said the secretariat was headed by the secretary to administer the day to day business of the commission.

Ms Zuze noted that civic and voter education was not part of their mandate, adding that, however they could facilitate voting.

“Although we are not visible, there are noticeable achievements in terms of facilitating elections and taking on board the citizenry at large particularly in the electoral processes,” she said.

The country, she said, experienced low voter turnout in the past years, but in 2014 general elections, there was a significant improvement. 

“This was due to the strategies put in place such as democracy youth clubs, youth ambassadors and liaison committees, which engaged people to participate and advice on electoral process issues,” she said.

She said IEC continued to be constrained by shortage of staff; hence they were unable to reach out fully to society.Ms Zuze also cited a challenge of proper records keeping, adding that they were putting measures in place in preparation for the 2019 general elections.

A member of the PAC and also MP for Francistown East, Mr Guma Moyo asked about voter trafficking and was informed that the practice was illegal as voting had to be done in principal residences of voters. 

She said there had never been reports of voter trafficking at IEC.

“To solve issues of voter trafficking, we have engaged the Ministry of Lands and Housing, which is implementing lands information system component to complement the election management system. 

 The team was asked to resubmit on recurrent expenditure for 2014 – 2015, income tax and annual statements of accounts. ENDS