26 Aug 2013

The assimilation of the local police into Botswana Police Service has left a gap in the operations of the kgotla, Francistown’s Donga Court President, Kgosi Harmony Moyo, has lamented. 

Speaking at a kgotla meeting addressed by the Francistown East MP, Mr Phandu Skelemani on Thursday, Kgosi Moyo said since the assimilation exercise, uncollected court fines remained a problem.

He said the former local police officers used to work hard to ensure that defaulters were brought to book. As such, government should put in place a mechanism that will ensure that those sentenced by the kgotla paid their fines, he implored. He said some people had lost hope in the kgotla system as they could no longer be sure how long it would take people before they paid fines.

He argued that it usually took ages after sentencing for people to play fines. For his part, MP Skelemani informed the residents about the land policy, saying it would protect and promote the rights of land holders. He encouraged the residents to desist from selling plots because with the new policy, a person will only be allocated one residential plot.

Mr Skelemani, who is also foreign affairs and international cooperation minister, said the policy applied to those who bought plots. He said if one applied for a plot and bought one while waiting for allocation, he/she would not be entitled for allocation.

The minister said under the policy all plots would be surveyed and holders issued with title deeds, a thing that he said would make it easier for owners to use their plots as security when applying for loans from commercial banks.

One resident, Mr Joshua Mmeya, decried the lack of a pig abattoir, saying as a result he could not sell because butcheries, hotels and potential buyers did not buy live pigs. The area councillor, Mr Ben Mpotokwane, said there was land shortage as evidenced by the 18 000 applicants on the waiting list that dates back 20 years.

He encouraged the residents to lease their plots instead of selling them so that they can still use them when they need them in future. ENDS