01 Feb 2013

The Minister of Lands and Housing, Mr Lebonaamang Mokalake is concerned at the rate which Batswana are selling undeveloped plots to foreigners.

Addressing kgotla meeting at Lekgolobotlo in Southern District on January 28, Mr Mokalake appealed to residents to develop or rent their plots rather than sell them.

He said land boards were also concerned about plots which remained undeveloped for a long time adding that most of Batswana were selfish in acquiring many plots but failed to develop them. The trend, he noted, had now reached a crisis level.

The Minister cautioned that if Batswana were not careful, land ownership would be dominated by foreigners who bought land at low prices. He said selling allocated land was illegal and advised that rather they should seek assistance from business people who could rent or develop plots.

‘’The only thing which could be sold are developments found in the plot not the land itself, you are not doing justice to yourselves," he said.

In other issues, the Mr Mokalake said his Ministry through the housing department, had given Botswana Housing Cooperation (BHC) mandate to coordinate construction of houses. He said through Single House Authority (SiHA), SHHA and Tenkey houses would be supervised by BHC.

He said government was concerned about shortage of accommodation for public servants, adding that through BHC the delay to build houses for public servants would be reduced.

 The Minister said some civil servants were reluctant to work in some villages citing accommodation problem thus leading to frustrations and lack of productivity in the work place. ‘’The worst part of it is when officers are sharing a house’’, he said.

He informed residents that P20 million had been allocated to construct 540 houses for civil servants. He also appealed to those residents with funds to construct houses and make arrangements with the government to rent them.

Commenting on the Minister’s statement, Lekgolobotlo residents complained about suspension of plot allocation in their area.  They further complained about shortage of water in their area and electricity connection fee which they said was too expensive. ENDS.