16 Mar 2022

The Ministry of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services is looking into reducing the waiting period for plot allocation to less than five years.

Answering a parliamentary question on Tuesday,Land management, water and sanitation services minister, Mr Kefentse Mzwinila said the plan would be achieved through cooperation, which would include cordial working relationship by both parties in the land delivery process as well as title holders of land earmarked for acquisition so that layouts could be developed to facilitate allocation of plots for residential, commercial and civic use.

“My ministry is currently working towards addressing some of the identified delays to expedite land allocation to Batswana,” he said, adding allocation of un-serviced land was approved during the 12th Parliamentary session.

“My ministry, through all landboards, immediately implemented the decision to expedite land allocation of un-serviced plots to meet the demand for residential and business plots,” he added. He also indicated that the ministry was also dealing with delays in land acquisition by looking into different compensation models with the view to have partnership with land owners.

“My believe is that the introduction of other models of compensation will address the concern of Batswana and shorten the land acquisition process which in turn will avail land for allocation to Batswana within a short period of time.”

On land allocation in Molepolole, the minister told MP’s that the Molepolole sub landboard had allocated five residential plots in the last 12 months.

He said the landboard had targeted Ratlhomelang/Magokotswane and Ranta layouts for allocations following their approval as part of Molepolole Development Plan in 2020, with 2 062 residential plots estimated to be allocated from the two layouts.

He added that acquisition of property located within the layout plans was still ongoing and was lengthy because some of the property owners were reluctant to release the land. On the other hand, the minister said Molepolole sub landboard had effected a total of 351 residential plot transfers in the last 24 months.

“I am not aware that in the next 10 years, Molepolole will have grown beyond its 10-kilometre radius. What I am aware of is that Molepolole village has a development plan of up to 2036.

The plan has identified the village growth areas for the period mentioned with quarterly reviews along the life span of the plan. It is worth noting that, Molepolole is surrounded by ploughing fields in all directions, primarily old allocations made by Bogosi before the landboards. It is inevitable that the village would grow into the fields, which will require the landboard to repossess them to avail land for allocation.”

Also, Mr Mzwinila said he was not aware of any new allocation of masimo within the 10-kilometre radius of Molepolole village. He added that Molepolole sub landboard had not allocated new ploughing fields within the areas earmarked for village growth in Molepolole, save for cases where such fields were being registered having existed before the establishment of the landboards.

“The registration is important to facilitate masimo owners to access government programmes. Future acquisitions will also need proof of ownership in the form of certificates,” Minister Mzwinila said.

Molepolole North MP, Mr Oabile Regoeng had asked the minister to state the number of residential, commercial, civic and community plots that had been allocated in Molepolole in the last 12 months and if none, how many would be allocated in the next 12 months.

Mr Regoeng also wanted to know how many residential plot transfers had been effected in Molepolole by the sub landboard in the last 24 months. He also asked if the ministry had a plan to reduce the waiting period for plot allocation to less than five years.

He further asked the minister if he was aware that in the next 10 years, Molepolole would have grown beyond its 10-kilometre radius yet the landboard continued to allocate new masimo within that radius. ENDS