29 Jul 2025

A total of 17 099 secure land title (SLT) certificates have been issued nationwide since April 2022 and 1787 were issued in Serowe District. 

Answering a question in Parliament on Wednesday, the acting Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Dr Edwin Dikoloti revealed that out of the number 1 787 certificates issued in Serowe District, 238 were issued in 2022/23, some 1223 in 2023/24, some 324 in 2024/25 and 670 in 2025/26. 

The minister said that the secure land title certificates programme has achieved its intended mandate despite some shortfalls due to some systemic problems in terms of delivery of the titles owing to processes of inefficiencies, legal constraints and resource shortages that continued to slow down the pace. 

“The programme has achieved its purpose in that those with the secure land titles, in tribal land, do not need to convert their rights to registered leases, in order to access financing,” Dr Dikoloti said and added that land rights as registered with Deeds Registry were recognised in other jurisdictions. 

However, the acting minister acknowledged challenges faced by the programme, but hastened to clear that government remained committed to addressing the challenges through system upgrades, capacity building, and legal reforms to accelerate land registration. 

“Facilitating SLTs and associated digitalisation investments is key to enabling the required value addition and wealth creation, which is expected to aid the overall national development agenda,” Dr Dikoloti said. 

He explained that the introduction of SLTs initiative was part of the broader land registration reforms in Botswana under Land Administration Procedures, Capacity and systems (LAPCAS). The SLTs, he said, are intended to foster stability, confidence in land transactions, protect land owners from disputes and fraud and facilitate access to financial services such as loans. 

“Most importantly, a secure land title can be used as collateral by financiers, enabling landowners to access credit and financing for development or investments,” the minister explained. 

The minister was responding to a question by MP for Serowe West, Mr Onalepelo Kedikilwe who sought the minister to update Parliament on the intention and purpose of introducing STL, if the programme has achieved its intended mandate and the number of Batswana who have acquired the SLT certificates in the Serowe District. ENDS