19 Oct 2023

The long wait will soon be over for many of people in Maun’s land application waiting list, as the land board will allocate 10 000 new plots at Matlapana and Polokabatho over the next 18 months.

“Within the remaining six months of this financial year, we are going to allocate 3000 residential plots in Maun and the remaining 7000 we will allocate in the next financial year 24/24,” Tawana Land Board Secretary, Mr Dothodzo Tabengwa told BOPA following a press conference held here Monday.

Earlier on, he had told journalists that Maun Development Plan 2023-2043 proposed in excess of 10 000 residential plots to be allocated at the two wards.

He said Maun village was declared a planning area in 1995, which meant that all allocations, including residential plots, must be planned before allocation. “This led to the preparation and implementation of the Maun Development Plan 1997-2021, which defined the growth of the village.

The plan is a spatial interpretation of how the development vision translates into the use of land, resources and sectoral coordination over the plan period through logically sequenced and clear strategies,” he said.

He said the plan was in the final stages and the land board was ready to survey and allocate plots immediately upon its approval, which he hoped would be before the end of this year.

Mr Tabengwasaid they were particularly eager to allocate the plots as feedback received through their Mindset Facebook page had shown that many people were unhappy with the Land board’s delay in allocating them land. He advised, however, that while awaiting approval of the plan, the Land Board would not be allocating any plots.

Mr Tabengwa said Maun had 38 680 plots and 26 266 people on the waiting list. He hoped the approval would allow the land board to demarcate a large number of plots to meet the needs of people on the waiting list.

A quick calculation of eligible applicants showed the land board may only have to deal with just over 15000 people. “Of 26 266, 10 949 applicants already have plots, the majority of which were directly allocated by the Land Board.

Within the remaining number, there are those who were allocated plots this year,” he said adding 693 people had died, which further reduced the number on the waiting list as an application for a plot was not inheritable, and a person could not be allocated a plot if they already had one in any village in Botswana.

In addition to demarcating plots, the land board would also consider acquiring and re-allocating plot that had remained undeveloped for a long time – which were numerous – he said.

Mr Tabengwa explained that Samedupi, Chanoga, and Matsaudi villages would be treated as part of Maun, and the Land Board was carrying out investigations on the proposed residential plot layouts in those villages in readiness for the plan approval.

“This is to ensure that upon approval, plot surveys start immediately in areas that are available without any need for consultations or compensations.

Our view is that 4 000 of these plots must be surveyed without delay,” he said.

With regards to advertised commercial plots, Mr Tabengwa said the Land Board had since interviewed some applicants through its various Sub Land Boards during April and May this year.

However, issues arose at the Maun Sub Land Board, which now planned to seek guidance from the main Land Board.

Unfortunately, the Board contract ended in August this year before the presentation was made. The plan was that the matter should be addressed by the new board at its first sitting.

Mr Tabengwa also said that they experienced delays in issuance of Deed of Customary Certificates with three Sub Land Boards, namely, Gumare, Nokaneng and Seronga doing better, while Maun Sub Land Board hoped to issue certificates for Komana and Chanoga before the end of this month.

On a different note, he said the Land Board was owed P39 million in lease rental arrears and appealed to defaulters to come to the land board to arrange a payment plan, warning non-payment may lead to plot repossession. ENDS