17 Oct 2013

Stakeholders have agreed to collaborate with Kweneng Land Board and build a cordial relationship in land administration within the district. They also agreed to cooperate on certain issues to enhance public service delivery.

Kweneng Land Board, which is regarded as the most tainted land board, held a stakeholder workshop on October 14 in Molepolole to map a way on how they could collaborate with their stakeholders for improved service delivery and hopefully restore their image.

Commenting on the council’s relationship with the land board, Kweneng council chairperson, Mr Motlhophi Leo said the council and the landboard were not operating as a unit even though they were one.

He also said they had not been planning together, citing an example that in Molepolole there werepeople who had been allocated residential plots but, were not in the service planning areas of Botswana Power Cooperation (BPC) and Water Utilities Cooperation (WUC) despite the fact that the village was the biggest by population in the country.

However, he said it was good that the land board realised the need to work closely with its stakeholders. He also noted that the issue of the Ramaphate village was another good example that showed this lack of collaboration. 

He said the land board did not recognise Ramaphate as a village, even though there was a primary school and a kgosi. Mr Joseph Ramarinyana from Botswana Power Corporation suggested that to enhance a cordial relationship from their side, when the land board allocated land, they should submit their proposed planning area to them so that the corporation could budget for those developments. He said this would help avoid customer complaints.

Other stakeholders suggested that if all could adhere to departmental service standards, there will be no customer complaints and also recognized the need for all stakeholders to plan together. The strengthening of district committees to ensure that they were functional was also recommended.

Different stakeholders were expected to play different roles to enhance efficiency. The objective of the workshop was to align the landboard strategy to those of the parent ministry. Ends