14 Mar 2021

Members of Parliament on Wednesday appealed to the Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services to improve land allocation and also ensure that water projects are done within stipulated time.

Responding to the ministry’s budget proposals for 2021/22 financial year, Nkange MP, Dr Never Tshabang complained that the process to allocate land was unnecessarily long.

He said action should be taken against Batswana who failed to develop their plots within the stipulated five years including unutilised arable land.

Dr Tshabang said the P327 million to be spent on land service would only benefit urban and peri-urban dwellers leaving out people living in the rural areas.

He welcomed the water project connecting his constituency to Ntimbale Dam but said as a short term measure against shortage of water, the number of water bowsers should be increased.

For his part, Boteti East MP Mr Setlhomo Lelatisitwe called for the implementation of Letlhakane Special Plan saying theirs was not an ordinary village as it was surrounded by mines.

He said it was disheartening for the village to be supplied  with borehole water and requested the minister to connect Letlhakane and other villages to the dam.

MP Lelatisitswe said the landboard was under staffed and therefore unable to allocate plots.

He further said the distance between boreholes should be reduced from six to four kilometres to enable more Batswana to have their own boreholes.

Further, he also said arable land should also be reduced from 16 to 10 hectares so that more people could be allocated plots.

Shashe West MP Fidelis Molao welcomed the water project in his constituency and urged the minister to ensure that it was completed on time.

He said since Shashemooke, Borolong and Chadibe would be connected to the dam, the borehole water, which used to feed the villages should be diverted to other villages such as Makobo, Natale and Jamataka.

Still in Parliament, Bobonong MP Taolo Lucas welcomed government’s efforts to connect Lepokole, Gobojango and Mothabaneng to Thune Dam.

With regards to Tribal Land Act, Mr Lucas said it should be amended to allow pastoral farmers to plough in the cattle posts.

MP Lucas said Bobonong had many freehold farms which were idle and had absentee landlords, hence the request that government should purchase the farms enable residents to acquire plots.

For his part, Chobe MP Mr Machana Shamukuni, also called for the acceleration in plot allocations and said the minister should improve coordination between all departments involved as land board blamed other stakeholders for delays.

He said Department of Lands should open an office in Kasane as people were forced to travel 400 kilometers to Francistown for services.

The Chobe MP welcomed water treatment projects and added that the sewerage system should be rehabilitated.

He called upon the minister to ensure that boundary between Botswana and Zimbabwe was resolved, together with Botswana and Namibia.

Mogoditshane MP Mr Tumiso Rakgare said he was hopeful the minister would be able to resolve the 140 000 people awaiting plots in the peri-urban village,adding people should be allocated plots with minimal land servicing.

He applauded lands and housing ministry for the water project connecting Mogoditshane to the North South Carrier saying he was hopeful the project would solve the water shortage challenge in Ledumadumane.

However, he said it was unfortunate that Tlapalanoga and Nkoyaphiri residents still used pit latrines although they were part of Greater Gaborone. Ends