07 Nov 2017

Councillors have expressed concern over the long waiting lists at the three sub land boards under Molepolole Administration Authority (MAA)/Lentsweletau Sub-district, saying something must be done to address the backlog.

They said this at the just ended MAA/Lentsweletau Sub-district full council meeing in Kopong recently.

Councillor Michael Bagopi of Mokgopeetsane suggested that the land board should make use of infills and allocate them to applicants to address the long waiting lists.

However, Ms Tsholofelo Otukile said according to the new national land policy, infills were considered tribal land and that the policy outlined that all tribal land should be surveyed and mapped before allocation.

She also noted that virgin land was not available, and that all the land that was available either belonged to someone or it was used for something else while some land was reserved for grazing.

She said the land board authority depended on people to release their ploughing lands in order for them to demarcate land for plot allocations.

The process, she noted, was slow as land owners were not willing to release their land because the compensation amount was said to be low.

Ms Otukile also explained that the new policy was designed to address compensation issues as it suggested new methods of compensation. Land owners, according to the new policy, would be compensated in kind and those who opt for cash would be paid according to the market value.

She further revealed that although the waiting lists were long, the ongoing land registration excersise had revealed that many applicants had more than one plot.

She said although the policy stipulated that one man was entitled to one plot, they would, however, not remove those with more than one plot from the waiting lists as their circumstances might change over the years.

With regards to the new certificates, Ms Otukile said that preparations were ongoing.

On other issues, an industrial relations officer from the Deparment of Labour urged the public to register their employees including farm workers.

He said the exercise was neccessary to create a database of all workers in the country. ENDS