04 Mar 2020

 Over 350 000 and 26 000 people are awaiting allocation of residential plots and ploughing fields in the Kweneng District respectively.

Kweneng Land Board chairperson, Mr Moemedi Babitseng revealed this at a meeting on Monday.

The board’s three-year tenure ends this month, a period through which Mr Babitseng said they had managed to allocate a total of 4 547 plots of various uses, out of which only 341 residential plots were allocated in Molepolole.

Mogoditshane was allocated 1 418 plots while 795 and 601 residential plots were allocated in Thamaga and Lentsweletau respectively.

Mr Babitseng said the low number of plots allocated in the district was attributed to the unavailability of layouts for allocation.

In Mogoditshane in particular, he said unallocated layouts were contaminated by squatters.

To address the challenge, Mr Babitseng said the land board had submitted 20 base maps to Kweneng District Council to prepare layout plans.

Further, he said the land board was still battling with a high demand for land, especially in Mogoditshane, Molepolole, Lentsweletau and Thamaga because of their proximity to the capital city.

He added that such demand as well as unwillingness of ploughing field rights holders who were generally reluctant to give away their land also contributed to long waiting lists.

Responding to the chairman’s remarks, members were concerned that the land board was not focused on its core mandate of allocating land, hence the low number of plots allocated.

They felt that the land board should have a strategy in place to tackle challenges that deterred them from doing their job efficiently.

A member, Mr Maoto Khudu argued that the land board should be people-centric and hasten to allocate plots in areas where there were no challenges, particularly in Kweneng West.

Mr Khudu was also worried about the delay in allocating business plots while the land board was only quick in compensating individuals.

He also stressed that people were at times rejected based on the land board policy, resulting in the land they were requesting for lying idle for many years.

Thamaga Sub-land Board chairperson, Mr Frederick Malebye said land acquisition was slowly becoming a bomb waiting to explode.

He said land acquisition was proving to be a difficult task because landholders wanted to be compensated the same way as those in Mogoditshane, something he feared might spread to other areas.

He also indicated that currently, landowners no longer wanted to be compensated with money.

Responding to some of their comments, the land board chairperson said some challenges were created by many things, including policies or some of the laws, which he said could become impediments in land management and delay fast-tracking of land allocation.

He highlighted that the land policy required planning, surveying and implementation. 

However, he said it might prove to be a challenge to implement.

 

Therefore, he encouraged all members to face such challenges squarely for progress sake. ENDS