21 Feb 2021

After seven years of no land allocation Tsabong Sub Land Board says it will allocate plots in Maubelo.

Speaking in an interview on Thursday, Tsabong Sub Land Board secretary, Mr Mpho Keareng said 933 residential plots and 60 commercial plots had been mapped to be allocated at Maubelo during the 2021/2022 financial year.

He stated that there was need to fast track land administration to respond to the rising demand for land ownership in the district.

Tsabong Sub Land Board, which covers 22 villages in Kgalagadi South, has a waiting list of 9 993 residential plots which dates back to 2014. Applications for farming land stand at 4 368 and date as far back as 2013.

Mr Keareng said some of the backlog could be attributed to the 2015 revised land policy which stated that plots should be allocated only where land was serviced. However, he noted that there were resource constraints such as shortage of water, electricity and access roads which impeded implementation.

He noted that some of the challenges were a result of some villagers refusing to be relocated after land was surveyed and mapped, adding that some of the allocations failed because villagers felt they had not been consulted.

He said they would consult authorities to ensure that there was consensus, adding that in 2019 Parliament revised the land policy to allow land boards to allocate land in unserviced locations if the community agreed.

For her part, Tsabong Sub Land Board chairperson, Ms Segomotso Bahuma said they were working on instituting the land reforms that came with the revised 2019 land policy. She said it dictated that for commercial plots land should be planned for, surveyed and advertised.

Ms Bahuma noted that they anticipated to allocate more plots as the board was currently in consultation with the leadership in various villages, adding that consultation was critical.

In the past, she said it was not done thoroughly which resulted in challenges and villagers halting allocations in some villages. She revealed that after surveying and mapping plot layouts, the sub land board encountered resistance which delayed allocations at Draaihoek, Kisa, Maralaleng and Omaweneno.

She said some villagers said there were natural resources that should not be tempered with while some reasoned that they had not been consulted.

Meanwhile, Ms Bahuma noted that the Maubelo layout was complete and that the board would commence processing the Middlepits catchment area in conjunction with villagers.

She said as land was a finite resource, where there was shortage, the land board would negotiate with land owners and employ sound land acquisition measures. ENDS