15 Jun 2023

Kweneng Land board’s efforts to allocate residential plots in Kumakwane is stalled by residents’ refusal to hand over their ploughing fields owing to dissatisfaction with the compensation offered and their lack of trust on the organisation.

This has become a major setback to the Land board’s desire to allocate plots to some of the 14640 people in their waiting list.

Chairman of the Kweneng Land Board, Mr Kgang Kgang, illustrated in a meeting that the residents have their own reservations.

“Owners of the ploughing fields have refused to voluntarily hand them to us,” he said.

“We have appealed to them numerous times and now we have no option but to apply to the court for a compulsory compensation.”

Due to unavailability of land to allocate plots, the land board has been unable to implement the village’s 2006-2036 Development Plan.

Mr Kgang said some owners have instead come to his offices with their own development agendas, as some wanted to build malls and other structures that were contrary to the land use of their fields.

Kumakwane Development Plan has been structured into different phases, and a total of 3746 plots are planned to be allocated in the four phases.

He told residents that the number of people in the waiting list would continue to decline as they allocate plots in other villages as some have applied in other areas as well.

“We have started to allocate plots in Mmopane, Mogoditshane and Mmankgodi,” he said.

He added that people have to hand over their ploughing fields in order for this to happen.

While the residents acknowledged that land board has not allocated plots in their village for years, they pointed a finger at the organisation.

One of the residents Ms Tapologo Nkobolo said they were not refusing with their fields but placed the blame on the land board for taking a long time to resolve the issue.

She said she was officially informed about the land board’s intension to take over her ploughing field in 2011, but it was after she made a follow up in 2018 that the wheels started rolling.

From her deliberations, she has been given an offer letter but her grievances emanated from the amount of compensation offered.

Mr Kennedy Kerapaletswe also decried the length of time the land board took to close the matter saying people were not refusing with their fields.

Under compensation in kind, a certain amount of a ploughing field is reserved for children of parents who hand over their ploughing fields, and preferred compensation in kind on top of monetary compensation.

They said compensation in kind would ensure that the residents were given priority over people from other districts.

Others said the Land Policy should be reviewed as the one plot policy was disadvantageous as those allocated plots in other areas could not be allocated one in their home villages.

Mr Kgang said compensation in kind was deemed illegal by their legal team hence it was stopped.

He further reminded the residents that under the current Tribal Land Act, Motswana has a right to be allocated a plot anywhere in the country. ENDS