11 Jul 2017

Letsibogo, Sekwe, Phase 1, Tawana and Metsiaela wards in Letlhakane have been affected by squatting.

Assistant Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services, Mr Itumeleng Moipisi said 18 churches have also been recently identified to be squatting in Letlhakane.

He said the land board was compiling information on illegal land occupation, and that the process would be followed by the necessary hearings.

He said it was hoped that the action, together with increased monitoring, would deter further incidences of squatting.

Mr Moipisi also admitted that his ministry was aware that people from Makolwane settlement who were promised land by government were still squatting, adding that a layout plan was being prepared at Metsiaela to accommodate the squatters. He, however, said he was not aware of any land promised to people from Tsutsuga and Ditawana areas.

However, he said the land board was profiling people at Tsutsuga and Ditawana as part of the ongoing fencing feasibility study to determine their status.

Furthermore, Mr Moipisi informed Parliament that by not having duly allocated land, families did not have secured land rights which they could use in accessing government programmes.

He said the land board  was expected to have allocated people at Makolwane residential plots in Letlhakane by the end of the 2017/18 financial year.

He said at Sekwe, the land board had allocated 38 out of 46 squatters, and that the remaining would be duly allocated within the Metsiaela layout plan.

Consultations on 269 squatters at Phase 1, Tawana, Letsibogo and Metsiaela was ongoing and would be followed by the due process if necessary, he stated.

Boteti East MP, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe had asked the minister to update Parliament on the status of squatters in Letlhakane looking at wards hard-hit by squatting.

He also wanted to know the number of churches squatting in Letlhakane and what action was being taken to prevent the situation.

MP Lelatisitswe had also asked the minister to state when the Basarwa people from Makolwane, Tsutsuga and Ditawana settlements, who had been promised land by government years ago, would be allocated residential plots in Letlhakane.

He also wanted to know how the delay in allocating them land had affected their families. ENDs