19 Nov 2013

The Palapye Sub-land Board, through systematic land registration project, which kicked off in July registered 5 910 plots of which only 2 031 have already claimed land rights

The sub-land board’s land surveyor, Mr Mothaka Silas said in an interview during a road show on Friday that the Palapye community was lagging behind in claiming their land rights hence the initiative to bring services closer to the community.

He said after registration of plots, plot owners were supposed to claim their land rights by submitting the required plot certificate, title deed or letter from dikgosi in the case of undocumented plots allocated by dikgosi.

Systematic Land Registration (LAPCAS) was an initiative by the Ministry of Lands and Housing, which entailed surveying plots and allocating them unique identity numbers because as currently the plots are neither surveyed nor numbered.

Mr Silas said the road show became successful because it far exceeded the targeted 50 people, adding that the land board will continue employing other strategies to make LAPCAS a success.

The project came about on the realization that land allocated by dikgosi was not documented thus difficult to access information of land owners. Mr Silas said the project was expected to give complete information on who owns what, where and for what purpose as such this information will enable the land board to make informed decisions.

He said LAPCAS will also make unclaimed land available for allocation adding that currently it is difficult to determine which land is available for allocation.

Furthermore he said only plots at Khurumela, Serorome, Lotsane, Boikago/Madiba, Extensions one and two will be surveyed as such plots allocated in other extensions will not be surveyed because they are already surveyed.

He said it is important for the community of Palapye to register and claim the land rights because ultimately the old certificates currently in use will be phased out. On completion of the project, he said plot owners will be issued with new certificates bearing unique plot numbers and some security features.

However he said this project is faced with challenges in Palapye because owners of plots have rented houses as such it is not easy to reach out to them hence impacting negatively on the progress of the project. ENDS