23 Mar 2026

There are no plans to make the Tutume Sub-Land Board a fully-fledged land board with Nata and Marapong being its subordinate land boards.

 This was said by acting Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Dr Edwin Dikoloti, when responding to a question in Parliament. Dr Dikoloti noted that the ministry’s mandate, as derived from the Tribal Land Act and related legislation, did not include the restructuring of the tribal boundaries.

 “The only power available to the minister is the approval of the establishment of a subordinate land board, by a land board for its own tribal area (Section 53 (1)) of the Tribal Land Act, 2018,” he said.

He explained that the boundaries of the Ngwato Land Board, like other land boards, were prescribed by the Tribal Territories Act and as such, any changes must be preceded by the amendments of the Tribal Territories Act and related legal instruments that recognise the tribal boundaries. 

“I am aware of the decentralisation policy, however, I must indicate that the restructuring and upgrading of the subordinate district councils to fully-fledged councils and merging of administrative authorities with district headquarters was in line with the provisions of the Local Government Act of 2012, in particular Section 5 (1),” he said.

Dr Dikoloti added that there iwas no such provision in the Tribal Land Act that empowered the minister responsible for lands to reorganise the tribal boundaries for the expediency of the service or for the sake of service delivery. 

He said notwithstanding Mr Moalosi’s question, Batswana, wanted a land administration system that was efficient, transparent, accountable and responsive to their needs.

 “Batswana have expressed concern over delays in land allocation, inconsistencies in decision-making and inefficiencies associated with largely manual and committee-driven processes. These concerns are calling for a comprehensive reform of the current Land Board system,” he said.

He explained that Batswana wanted a modern, professional and digitally enabled institution. He said the current practice of appearing before the board, site visits and their related manual processes, were regarded as outdated. 

He therefore said the ministry has started the Land Administration Know Your Customer (LA-KYC) online service, which was currently in the testing phase and due to be officially launched once comments from the users had been addressed. 

Dr Dikoloti further shared that Batswana had, in their call, during kgotla meetings,and other engagements, emphasised the importance of maintaining their cultural identity and traditional leadership structures to ensure that their customary values, community interests and traditional authority continued to play a central role in land administration. 

“Our intended reforms are about restoring public confidence in tribal land administration, improving service delivery and building a system that is fit for purpose, future-ready and responsive to the needs of all Batswana,” he said. 

Nkange legislator Motlhaleemang Moalosi  had asked the minister if there were any plans to make Tutume Sub- Land Board a fully-fledged entity. Mr Moalosi had also asked if the minister was aware of the Decentralization Policy and whether, for the sake of service delivery, it would not be prudent to break up Ngwato land board into smaller land boards based on the newly established districts. BOPA