16 Feb 2023

Minister of Lands and Water Affairs, Dr Kefentse Mzwinila, says comprehensive consultation process was rolled out to all critical stakeholders during the development of the new Tribunal Land Act.

Dr Mzwinila confirmed this when answering a question in Parliament on Wednesday, saying, ‘upon the Act’s commencement in April last year, the ministry continued to consult all stakeholders who were identified to play a role in its implementation and these included the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS)’.

The minister also told Parliament that issues of transfer duty and its corresponding valuations were requirements brought up by the Transfer Duty (Amendment) Act of 2019, which was administered by the Ministry of Finance through BURS.

“Also, if the landboards were to receive land transfer applications without BURS consent, that would not be consistent with requirements of the Transfer Duty Act, and would amount to accepting non-compliant applications,” he added.

Further, the minister said discussions between lands and water affairs and finance ministries had resulted in steps being taken towards the review of the Act in order to address some of the implementation challenges that had been identified, especially in transfer of property in tribal land.

The review, he said, would be undertaken by the finance ministry as promised by Minister Peggy Serame in the Budget Speech she presented to Parliament recently.

Member of Parliament for Nata/Gweta, Mr Polson Majaga had wanted to know if the implementation of the new Land Transfer Act had commenced without consultation, and if Batswana had incurred costs when attempting to get services from land authorities.

Also, Mr Majaga wanted clarification on why land boards were not allowed to receive land transfer applications without BURS input. Ends