11 Jul 2024

Kweneng Land Board must bring to book  everyone involved in illegal land allocations in Mogoditshane regardless of their status, Member of Parliament for Mogoditshane Mr Tumiso Rakgare has said.

Speaking in a kgotla meeting addressed by Kweneng Land Board Chairperson in Mogoditshane on Wednesday, Mr Rakgare the unscrupulous behaviour of those implicated had left residents homeless as they could not be allocated plots.

MP Rakgare further suggested that people should consider being allocated plots in nearby villages as Mogoditshane did not have any available space for further allocations.

Mogoditshane has been rocked by land scandals which started in the 1990s as some of Mogoditshane Sub Land Board officials reportedly failed to follow the right procedures but instead enriched themselves.

Land board chairperson, Mr Kgang Kgang said when he started work at the land board in 2020, he inherited an office in a mess where illicit land allocations and corruption were rife.

The controversy surround the ‘compensation in kind’ policy, which led to abuse as some people gave up their ploughing fields opting for residential plots in areas of their choice.

Employees used ‘insider information’ to their own advantage.

When they knew ploughing fields of a certain area would be affected by the village expansion, they went ahead and bought the fields from the unsuspecting people.

And while it was the responsibility of the district council to demarcate them, the employees themselves did that and sold the divided plots to different people.

In one incident, 4.5 ha earmarked for school was dubiously awarded to a driving school which had only been in operation for two months.

Industrial plots were also not procedurally awarded.

Mr Kgang explained that the sub land board did not have authority to purchase plots and neither could it offer compensation.   

He explained that procedurally, the main land board should have acquired the ploughing fields, handed them to council for demarcation and then the sub landboard would allocate them.

This, Mr Kgang said, did not happen in the Mogoditshane Sub Land Board.

He said they took the matter to court but they were advised that not all matters could be concluded by law and therefore, had to negotiate with all involved parties.

Learning from the adage, ntwa kgolo ke ya molomo, Mr Kgang said the idea was to reach an agreement where both parties would be happy, saying however, land board had the right to take the plots without offering compensation.

Meanwhile, Mr Kgang said the waiting list for residential plots in Mogoditshane stood at 140 000 but after auditing, they expect it to be as low as 50 000 as some applicants were not alive and others had plots elsewhere.

The residents welcomed the decision with the hope that once all the affected land was returned, they will be allocated residential plots.

Some said they had been waiting since 1991. Ends