24 Jan 2022

Mababe residents in the North West District have lodged a request for their land to be converted from State to tribal land.

Residents unanimously agreed during a kgotla meeting addressed by MP for Maun East Mr Goretetse Kekgonegile that the benefits of changing the land to tribal regime outweighed those of the current one.

For example, the department of lands in Francistown did allocation of land, when the land board could do that if the land was under tribal regimen.

Other services such as electricity connectivity took very long as could be expected on state land.

Responding to their request, Maun Sub-land Board vice chairperson Mr Abel Molelo advised residents to invite the Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services to visit Mababe for consultations that should entail a formal submission of their request.

Mr Molelo explained that in a previous meeting with a former minister of the same ministry, Mabebe residents opted to have their land remain under state land ownership.

He pointed out that, now that the residents wanted it changed to tribal land, they should formally engage the Minister to present their request.

He highlighted that once all steps were completed and land tenure system converted to tribal land, the land board would expedite allocation of plots in the area.

Nonetheless, Mr Molelo advised residents to continue submitting applications at the department of lands while they awaited the change, bearing in mind that the land policy allowed a person to own one residential plot on state land and one on tribal land.

He urged them residents to be a united for their request to be successful, adding they should be able to defend their proposal, considering that they preferred the current regime in the past.

Mr Molelo concurred that it would be more efficient for people to access services from the land board in Maun rather than having to travel the long distance Francistown.

North West District Council chairperson and also councilor for Khwai/ Mababe ward Kebareeditse Ntsogotho reiterated that residents should hold a unanimous view so that their case would be much stronger when they presented it to the Minister.

He said the land policy gave residents of a particular area the right to decide the systems and use of their land according to what they believed could be of greater benefit to them.

Councilor Ntsogotho explained that many projects had been suspended due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

He noted that now that the State of Emergency was over, residents could now hold kgotla meetings to discuss pending issues from as far back as 2020. ENDS