20 Nov 2022

Government  has secured funds to pay the 1 391 residents of Disaneng ward who paved way for the Maun airport expansion.

  Addressing a kgotla meeting in Maun on Friday, Minister of Transport and Public Works, Mr Eric Molale said the residents wwould start recieving their dues this week until the end of this financial year.  

 He acknowledged delays in the matter, 16 years to be precise, due to court cases emanating from the issue. Minister Molale implored affected persons to remain in Maun and not travel to Gaborone to seek help.

“Please don’t come to Gaborone, the ministry will come to you because government services are supposed to find you wherever you are, stated Mr Molale. 

 He said government had rectified the mistakes where wrong rates were applied to calculate compensation. 

The minister noted that there were 103 arising issues where the beneficiaries had died of which the money was paid to Francistown High Court hence the minister requested that money be transferred to High Court in Maun.

He said the constitution provided that where one’s land was claimed for developments a fair and adequate compensation should be received by the land owner.

Minister explained that compensation guidelines were laid down following which the respective land board drafted guidelines in 2006 to guide the whole process.

Responding to questions, Mr Molale told residents that he would ask the auditor general to check all savingrams, court orders, and documents relating to the issue, to assess whether proper process was followed.

He explained that the Tribal Land Act stated that when government relocated people, the land board should spear head the process and conduct valuations performed by qualified personnel with the help of the District Land Use Planning Committee that comprised local and central government land experts.

Residents queried that compensation rates were wrong arguing that the five per cent interest rate accumulated every year should be applied accordingly.

They further told the minister that some of the experts who were engaged to conduct assessments were not qualified and that resulted in material value being miscalculated.

Residents further asked government to bring developments to Disaneng ward where they were relocated especially storm water drainage and street lights.

Kgosi Tatlhego Repheya of Disaneng ward, pleaded with the minister to expedite the matter so that it could be concluded.

He said the issue had caused conflicts in many families whose principal beneficiary had died. Kgosi Rapheya further asked government to develop Disaneng by expanding the water grid and road infrastructure.

MP for Maun East, Mr Goretetse Kekgonegile asked residents to be patient because not all would be paid this week, some would receive their dues in March next year.

He acknowledged government’s initiative of Constituency Community Projects funds which aimed at bringing  developments to villages. 

However, he asked government to consider funding infrastructure development in Disaneng since it was a new and developing ward. Ends