19 Jan 2014

Lands and housing minister Mr Lebonaamang Mokalake has advised Boteti sub council authorities to be cautious and desist from considering swapping a ranch allocated to Khwee residents with the one said to be already developed being offered by a certain farmer.

Mr Mokalake who is also Boteti South MP said he was worried by council authorities’ failure to develop the ranch to an extent that they want to give the land of the community away in a deal likely to back fire.

He said reasons given by the council indicating that the area where the ranch is located cannot be accessed using a truck does not hold water as adjacent ranches are developed and in use. “I still wonder why council trucks are failing to access the ranch while individual owners adjacent to that of the Khwee community are fully operational,” he said.

Mr Mokalake wondered why a person could settle for a piece of land which was not developed while in return giving away a well serviced ranch.  “I do suspect that the developed ranch being offered could have a lot of challenges, who knows maybe the owner has failed to locate potable water or just drilled blanks or that the ranch does not have sufficient forage to sustain livestock."

He said the idea of a swap is a non-starter citing an incident in the past where the community of Malatswai lost a piece of land offered to them to develop a ranch in a similar arrangement. “Something must be wrong here, I am totally against the idea of swap, all I can say is to encourage council employees to pull up their socks and develop the ranch allocated to the community of Khwee, you are going to be swindled if you go for that move,” he said.

VDC Deputy Chairperson, Mr Rogers Tauejele had indicated that the Khwee community was worried by council failure to develop the ranch since it was awarded in 2010. The area Councillor Chamme Kelebekae stated that the community of Khwee was fortunate as the hidden agenda deal had bounced before it took off the ground. Mr Kelebekae also stressed that council must only focus on developing the ranch allocated to the community of Khwee as any other move will haunt them in the future.

The Assistant Council Secretary, Mr Christopher Maramba in response to the VDC concern said council had identified a farmer with a developed ranch closer to the village to swap with. “We are still working on that move hoping it will address the concerns of the community,” he said. The community of Kedia is also in a similar situation, as the development of their ranch is also moving at a snail pace. Kgosi Shimane also has shared his worry recently in a kgotla meeting addressed by minister Mokalake as he also wondered why council was failing to complete the development of Hima ranch.

Kgosi Akanyang said the construction of a perimeter fence at the ranch was yet to be completed while on the other hand being vandalised by some unscrupulous members of the community and wild animals like elephants. Mr Mokalake also worried about progress at Hima ranch adding that council has also wasted funds in trying to drill two additional boreholes at the ranch not heeding his advice of drawing and distributing water using a pipeline from the current borehole at the ranch.  ENDS