05 Mar 2026

‘The process for purchasing a pool house requires the sitting tenant to submit an expression of interest to the Department of Housing, or in the case of district, to the relevant district commissioner, thereafter the department or district commissioner conducts preliminary assessments, including property inspection, rent reconciliation and preparation of an indicative estimate’

Answering a question in Parliament on Tuesday, Minister of Water and Human Settlement, Mr Onneetse Ramogapi said the directive excluded institutional houses and those situated in strategic locations. 

Mr Ramogapi said subsequently, the framework was reviewed and amended through Presidential Directive CAB 2AA/2025, which introduced key reforms to enhance accessibility and fairness. 

Amongst notable amendments, he said, were the introduction of a tenant purchase scheme alongside the outright sale option, removal of the plot size limitation of 1 200 square metres as well as deletion of the clause that restricted eligibility based on the number of plots or houses already owned by a tenant. 

He explained that the amendments were intended to broaden access and ensure equitable participation by eligible public officers. 

The minister further informed Parliament that the scheme primarily targeted citizens public officers who were currently occupying pool houses as lawful sitting tenants. 

He explained that the process for purchasing a pool house required the sitting tenant to submit an expression of interest to the Department of Housing, or in the case of district, to the relevant district commissioner. 

“The Department of Housing or district commissioner conducts preliminary assessments, including property inspection, rent reconciliation and preparation of an indicative estimate of the property value.

 Where the tenant meets the eligibility requirements, an estimate is issued and the tenant is required to provide proof of funding,” he explained. That, he said, was followed by the formal valuation process, insurance of an offer letter and subsequent payment by the tenant. 

He said as at close of business on February 26, a total of 277 houses had been sold, while 248 applications were being processed. 

Minister Ramogapi also indicated that while the programme had made recommendable progress, a number of implementation challenges were encountered which included institutional mandate limitations. 

He explained that under the initial directive, the Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) was mandated to sell all pool houses. 

However, he said it could not dispose of government-built houses as those remained under direct government ownership. 

He said the matter was addressed in the subsequent directive, which empowered the Department of Lands to handle the sale of government-built houses. 

He further explained that the other challenge was the plot size restriction, which he said the original exclusion of houses situated in plots measuring 1 200 square metres and above disadvantaged certain public officers. 

“This provision has since been renewed and removed, thereby broadening eligibility,” he added. 

Mr Ramogapi also explained that the other challenge was that of ownership restrictions, noting that initially, sitting tenants who already owned land legally allocated by land authorities were disqualified from participating. 

He said the clause had also been amended to promote inclusivity and fairness. 

Regarding institutional houses not for sale, Minister Ramogapi said the challenge was something that led to some of the occupants or clients being treated differently. 

To mitigate the above challenge, Mr Ramogapi said government intended to give first priority to government officers who were staying in institutional houses the opportunity to buy houses from those to be constructed by investors under Bonno housing programme. 

He said such corrective measures had significantly strengthened the implementation frame work and enhanced access to the scheme. 

Member of Parliament for Maun East, Mr Goretetse Kekgonegile had asked the minister to appraise Parliament on government pool houses purchasing scheme with emphasis on who their main target was the number of those eligible, the number of pool houses and the number of those available. 

The legislator had also wanted the minister to explain the process undertaken to purchase a house, the number of houses purchased so far and the number of applicants that were being processed and the challenge’s experienced and solutions in place for the smooth implementation of the programme. ENDS