12 Feb 2024

The introduction of the secure land title followed the commencement of the re-enacted Tribal Land Act of 2018 and the Deeds Registry Amendment Act of 2017.

Minister of Lands and Water Affairs, Dr Kefentse Mzwinila said the processes required plot holders to register their land rights with the registrar of deeds through the land board.

He said individual land parcels registration must be preceded by the registration of the parent plots in the name of the concerned land boards with the registrar of deeds.

He said it involved the survey and registration of cadastral areas within village boundaries, and that it was followed by the registration of the certificate of registered titles.

“This can be loosely defined as the boundary of a ward or blocks of plots commonly known as outside figures,” he said, adding that the next stage was the registration of general plans which detailed each ward in terms of individual plots and their land uses.

Minister Mzwinila further said in an effort to accelerate the registration of secure land titles, his ministry floated a tender for the survey and examination of the survey diagrams in August 2022.

He noted that the tender consisted of three parts with part A being the cadastral survey which was the survey of the general plans consisting of plots.

Part B, he said, consisted of the examination of the survey records and part C the survey of the outside figures.

He said in the past in tribal areas the survey did not follow the prescribed requirements as the general plans were in some areas surveyed without the outside figures, adding that the tender was meant, amongst others, to normalise the arrangement so that each land parcel could be easily traced to its parent plot.

The minister said the award of the cadastral survey in part A was challenged by one of the bidders, and that it led to the procurement tribunal setting aside part A of the tender.

He added that it resulted in the delay of the exercise, and that part B of the tender depended on the output of part A.

The minister said the tender was expected to yield an additional 63 316 plots ready for allocation and issuance of secure land titles, adding that it affected their delivery timelines of the secure land title as they had to re-start the process.

He said outsourcing of the outside figures and surveying in tribal land revealed that the country did not have adequate capacity as evidenced by the delays in the outsourced tenders and that subsequently the component on CRT was terminated.

“My ministry has roped Botswana Institute of Technology Research and Innovation to assist in the automation of the process for production of the secure land titles,” he said.

Furthermore, he said it was expected to increase the rate at which secure land titles were produced, adding that the bandwidth connectivity was also being addressed by taking sites to 100 mega bite.

He added that measures had been put in place to assist any title holder who wanted to undertake a business in their plots. Batswana, he said, were encouraged to visit offices across the country for expedited assistance, and that some had already made transactions with their plots which were under the old registration.

Francistown South MP, Mr  Wynter Mmolotsi had asked why it had taken long for Batswana to be given secure land titles for their plots, and whether the minister was aware that the delay was causing problems for people who wanted to do businesses in their plots. ENDS