11 Dec 2013

The Tawana Land Board has been advised to exercise affirmative action by giving priority to remote area dweller people when allocating tourism plots.

Some councilors, mostly those who represented remote area dweller settlements, said a deliberate move should be taken to give their electorate 80 percent of the land; then advertise the remaining 20 percent.

The councillors were commenting on a presentation about land allocation policy changes. It was said that land applicants for tourist-related ventures must submit a project proposal approved by Department of Wildlife and National Parks and Department of Tourism. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and management plan are required depending on the scale of the proposed project.

Cllr Kebareditse Ntsogotlho of Khwai/Savuti said farming was impossible in his area because the communities lived in wildlife management planning area, hence the need to allocate a bigger portion so that more people could benefit.

He said tourism plots in his remote area dweller ward would deal a blow to abject poverty. Cllr Ntsogotlho said the land board should focus on rural area dwellers because they were far from services and did not have the same job opportunities as other Batswana. He emphasised the need to sensitize the communities about the importance of land.

Ms Bernadette Malala, the district commissioner, said reserving 80 per cent of tourism plots for the remote area dweller people was a good move because they could not compete with other applicants.

The policy proposes that under affirmative action, 50 percent of the industrial/commercial/civic and community plots in remote area dweller settlement shall be advertised; and the remainder shall be reserved for residents. Eighty percent of the residential plots shall be advertise; and the remainder reserved for locals. Land for ploughing shall be allocated to locals only.

Cllr Moetetse Mogalakwe of Makalamabedi South requested the land board to re-visit the proposal to reserve 20 percent of residential plots for the locals. He said the remote area communities should be given upper hand, that is, 80 percent and the rest be advertised to the public.

Cllr Mogalakwe underscored the need for mindset change to appreciate and understand the value of land and that it was for their children’s heritage. He said because the locals resided on their own land, they should be treated differently and be urged to exercise responsibility towards government assistance so that they did not go to waste.

He said it was distressing to find that some people continued to amass wealth by tricking people in rural areas and buying their plots. This, he said, made the poor get poorer as well as making children lose out on opportunities because their parents sold plots.

Ms Naledi Pema, the deputy land board secretary, informed councillors that the policy was reviewed every two years, basing on feedback from communities. She said the task force that was reviewing the policy would be informed about the councillors’ suggestion that affirmative action beneficiaries deserved priority. ENDS