05 Dec 2017

Many conflicts on land utilisation are caused by deviation from the norm and consultation processes by land boards when demarcating or allocating lands, farmers in Kweneng have said.
Speaking at a meeting with Kweneng Land Board officials in Molepolole recently, farmers said unlike in the past land board no longer consult people already on the area they wish to demarcate.

They said instead they just allocate, even overlooking land overseers resulting in many land uses conflicts.Some farmers said because of non-consultation tendencies by land authorities, some individuals no longer use land for intended purposes, resulting in conflicts, citing feedlot plot, integrated farms and project boreholes as perpetrators.

They noted that feedlot owners have turned some land into small ranches inside communal grazing areas, instead of being areas for feeding cattle before selling to BMC, resulting in erosion and overgrazing of limited pastures and in the process impacting on the ability of the country to realise its food security.

One farmer Mr Mokganedi Molefhe said some project borehole despite drilled in arable land (fields) owners’ use such boreholes to water livestock and sell water to other cattle owners.

He said this has resulted in more land degradation, impacting on small farmers relying on communal grassing areas.
He said the way Kweneng Land Board conducted its affairs and responded to land conflicts was worrying and it was a recipe for civil strife, citing that many civil wars in Africa were fought over land.

He said failure to curb land use conflicts would harm the national economy if the agriculture sector, which employed many people collapsed.

Farmers said Kweneng Land Board had even gone against the basic policies and principle of business economics when it comes to allocation of feedlots, which initially were supposed to be constructed near markets so that animals will reach market in fresh state.

They said feedlots were now allocated even some thousands kilometres from the market.

Some farmers accused the land board of disregarding its own policy and the drift fence demarcating field from grazing areas, resulting in some fields allocated inside cattle posts areas and near boreholes resulting in conflicts in the process.

Deputy Kweneng Land Board chairperson, Mr Vincent Sekano said land overseers had not been disregarded, but in some areas their role had been diminished because land had been mapped and use of technology had taken over their role.

He however said they played a huge role in assisting the land authority and in some areas they were still being utilised until LAPCAS has been complete as all land would be mapped and computerised.

He said once complete, Batswana would be able to access information on land uses quickly and reliably and land boards would no longer face double land allocations.

He said the land board would address farmers concerns and consult on some recommendation they made to the board and follow up land use conflicts and undeveloped plots, which he said did not only impact on local economy, but also on the individual’s ability to uplift their livelihood.

He said many challenges faced by land authority was proximity of the district to the capital city while the board was overwhelmed by applications for residential and commercial agric-related plots applications, which they were unable to attend to because of resource constraints and unavailability of suitable plots in some instances.

He said this had set them on collision course with Batswana, accusing the land board of denying them an opportunity to own plots and improve their livelihoods. Ends