24 Feb 2026

The Ministry of Lands and Agriculture will embark on a comprehensive reform of the land administration to shift focus from numbers to the economic viability of land.

This was said by the acting minister, Dr Edwin Dikoloti in Parliament recently, acknowledging that the 100,000 plots campaign had exposed deep-seated structural challenges within the country’s land ecosystem.

“The issue is not just about the number of plots allocated, but about ensuring land is properly surveyed, legally registered, infrastructure-aligned and capable of unlocking enterprise and investment,” Dr Dikoloti said.

He indicated that the campaign faced financial and logistical hurdles with exorbitant costs in areas like Metsimotlhabe, where government spent over P321,000 per plot.

He said total expenditure of P167 million had been spent so far, including P85 million for cadastral surveys, P7, 704, 000 for verification and examination of survey records and P75 million by Land Boards.

On infrastructure deficit, he said of the 100,000 plots allocated, only 318 were serviced, adding that the ministry was currently working to service an additional 5,080 plots at a cost of P1.92 billion.

He further indicated that only 12,586 beneficiaries had received Secure Land Titles, a gap he attributed to systemic constraints in data readiness and digital alignment.

Again, he told Parliament that the 100,000 plots were distributed across various settlement tiers, with the largest share of 45,896 plots allocated in rural villages, followed by 29,007 in peri-urban settlements and 28,203 in urban centres while 8,317 plots were located in remote areas. 

However, he said the campaign saw 2,473 plots returned to Land Authorities by the allottees, explaining that such returns occurred primarily because applicants wished to avoid being disqualified from future land allocations in their preferred or respective areas of application.

To address such gaps, he said the ministry operationalised a ‘War Room’ for Secure Land Title (SLT) Production on February 16 this year. 

“This task force pools experts from the Deeds Registry, Surveys and Mapping and Town and Country Planning, Geospatial Information Centre, Department of Technical Services, Land Boards, and the Department of Lands to oversee the entire value chain from development planning to registration,” he added.

Furthermore, he said a Land Lab was being developed alongside the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme to diagnose systemic constraints and restore predictable title production in high-pressure areas.

He was responding to questions from MP for Molepolole North, Mr Arafat Khan, who had asked the minister to give a detailed account of the campaign’s expenditure and the status of title deeds. 

MP Khan also wanted to understand the statistical relationship between plot locations and the rate at which land was being returned to authorities, as well as the policy adjustments being made to remedy the failures. BOPA