22 Mar 2022

 Scores of plot owners within the Mogoditshane  Sub-land Board jurisdiction may lose their land even though they hold title to it. 

This follows Kweneng Land Board’s decision to invalidate all transactions made by the sub-land board  through its compensation in-kind arrangement. 

Speaking in an interview recently, main land board chairperson Mr Kgang Kgang declared  the in-kind compensation policy adopted by its subsidiary illegal. 

Through the 2019 policy, the sub-land board compensated people whose ploughing fields it took with six residential plots per hectare in lieu of money. 

That was illegal, stated Mr Kgang, adding that not only was the model unlawful, it also provided a loophole whereby some corrupt land board officers acquired fields through dubious means in order to get compensation in-kind. 

So serious was the problem, that following investigations, the Ministry of Land Management Water and Sanitation Services dismissed 38 of the land boards’ officers, some of whom had already been transferred to other land boards outside Kweneng. 

According to Mr Kgang, they  operated as sophisticated cabals working in cahoots with some lawyers. 

“They were not acting alone. They were assisted by other criminal elements, among them many lawyers,” he said. 

 The main land board intended to invalidate ownership of the plots received under the policy essentially repossessing  them, including those bought by third parties, he said.  However, Mr Kgang explained that whether someone lost or maintained their land would  depend on how they pleaded their case before the land board.

“The land board has since issued a show-cause why notice to third parties whose rights will be affected by cancellation of transactions under consideration. 

We have invited the affected parties to appear before the board, to give them opportunity to say why their title should not be cancelled,” said Mr Kgang. 

He explained that the board decided to annul the transactions after obtaining legal opinion and being made aware that the model contravened the Tribal Land Act Section 10(1), which stipulated that ownership of tribal land was vested in the land board. 

Said Mr Kgang: “Since ownership of tribal land is vested in the land board, compensation for land acquired by the board and or by the state is not for land, but for improvements or developments on that land in terms of Section 25 of the Tribal Land Act”. 

He further stated that the provision detailed the land board could not compensate anyone for land it already owned. 

Land allocated, whether residential, farming or business, was only held in trust, he explained. 

Therefore, any subdivisions and allocations done through the model were not in accordance with provisions of the act and were therefore unlawful, stated Mr Kgang. 

Consequently,  he said, the main land board was entitled to revoke the said allocations and subdivisions. 

He explained that the revocation would affect everyone who had been compensated in kind in Mogoditshane.  Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Infrastructure Development Ms Bonolo Khumotaka said the land board would be engaged on the matter. 

  The in-kind compensation policy was supposedly meant to encourage ploughing field owners to surrender land to the sub-land board. 

   It was designed to match the value of the land, which had become too expensive for government owing to its proximity to the city. 

  At the time many land owners were reluctant to surrender their fields thereby delaying land allocation and developments. 

Implementation of the policy gave rise to a new trend of land grabbers which included staff and civic leaders. 

The sub-land board became inundated with applications for transfers adding to the land woes already experienced by the entry. BOPA