06 Apr 2017

The councillor for Khwai/Mababe, Mr Kebareediste Ntsogotlho has requested the Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism, Mr Tshekedi Khama to lift the moratorium which suspended tourism enterprise licences at Khwai and Mababe.

He said the decision was made without consultation with the concerned villages and recommended the lifting of moratorium on all land owners with all the relevant documentations.

He made the remarks during a special meeting that the suspension has negatively affected the communities who solely survive through tourism activities.

He said the two villages were situated in a state land and that the communities could not benefit from available government programmes. “The moratorium has killed them as they have nothing in place to earn a living,” he added.

He also noted that some had already conducted Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and currently paying leases and requested the minister to assist them as they had complied.

Cllr Duncan Enga appreciated government efforts to encourage locals to operate tourism activities such as campsites as some have the technical know how, but expressed a concern that the policies and acts in place disadvantage locals.

He cited the EIA Act and urged the minister to review the act with a view to simplify them so that locals could tap into tourism projects in large numbers.

Cllr Kenson Kgage said land was a priority in every tourism project and noted that small entrepreneurs were disadvantaged as tenders awarded by Botswana Tourism Organisation attracted only well established business owners.

He also requested that category C licences for mobile safari operations be assessed, adding that the operators were faced with challenges to meet the requirements.

He said for one to be issued with a licence, he/she has to own a fully fledged office and also meet some set requirements. He appealed to the minister to issue the licences to the low economic class.

For his part, the minister, Mr Khama said they have realised that some polices and laws made it difficult for locals to benefit from tourism sector and informed the house that they intend to review such policies and acts citing the EIA act.

He explained that NG19 and 41 concessions were faced with challenges as campsites were operated without licences, and that the area was polluted because there was no control hence the suspension of operations.

He said the idea was not to interrupt the activities but they wanted people to comply with the policies in place and also comply with environmental rules.

He appreciated that some felt EIA was expensive and time consuming but stated that it has to be done. He pleaded with the council to assist on the issue noting that the ministry alone could not win it.

Mr Khama said recently some officials from the ministry visited the area and produced a report with some recommendations. ENDS