13 Dec 2020

The Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services, Mr Kefentse Mzwinila has expressed support for the motion requesting the government to extend communal areas into Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) in Kgalagadi South by at least 10 kilometres.

According to the motion, tabled by Kgalagadi South MP Mr Sam Brooks,  the extension will help avail communal farming land as well as allow for demarcation of small farms to create land for youth and small farmers and to expand the agricultural sector.

Minister Mzwinila said the motion addressed some of the key issues the ministry had taken on board to improve land allocation. He said the motion had enlightened the ministry on the possibility of demarcating smaller ranchers rather than the usual six kilometers by six kilometers ranches.

 Minister Mzwinila explained that consultations with the community were at an advanced stage on how best to re-zone and maximise land usage and further demarcate the land for further allocations.

He admitted that the there was need to rezone land in Kgalagadi into either cattle ranching and game farming since the area was ideal for such activities. Mr Mzwinila indicated that it was ideal to demarcate some land in the WMA for game faming particularly in wildlife hotspot areas. He cautioned about the ‘green reserve’ area along the WMA in Kgalagadi which he said would not be demarcated to communal area due to tourism activities.  He said the public should however be mindful that WMAs were sometimes used as buffer zones between the National Parks and the communities to control human wildlife conflicts.

Presenting the motion, Mr Brooks said the farming population in Kgalagadi had increased a lot, noting that the 30 per cent allocated to them was lower than what the communities needed to improve their farming thereby leading to over grazing. He said shortage of farming land in his constituency crippled farmers’ progress to graduate into full time commercial farming.

“It is high time the government reviews the land policy in Kgalagadi since only 30 per cent of the land is designated for community grazing land while the remaining 70 per cent is under the wildlife management area,” he said.

Even though he applauded the government’s efforts to develop farming in Botswana, Mr Brooks argued that it was disappointing  that some programmes were not beneficial to farmers in Kgalagadi since there was no land for implementation. 

Mr Brooks said the demarcation of small farms to youth and small farmers would also improve the country’s food security. ends