03 Sep 2026

Residents from across Kgatleng will, on September 10, march peacefully to the Office of the President, with a petition that details years of heartbreak, lost paperwork and frustration with the local land board system.

The decision to take their plea straight to the top came after a recent and emotionally charged kgotla meeting in Mochudi, during which residents and leaders from Artesia, Oodi, Mmathubudukwane and beyond, unanimously agreed to petition the President to address enduring delays, alleged corruption and poor service delivery at the Kgatleng Landboard.

For many in the region, the struggle for land has hit home in deeply personal ways. Addressing the gathering, Bakgatla Land Task Team chairperson, Dr Nelson Sello, bemoaned widespread frustration over administrative backlogs, lack of transparency and deliberate double allocations that have forced some residents to relocate. 

Dr Sello also submitted that Bakgatla generally were disadvantaged because of their proximity to the capital city, pointing out that “landboards ended up favouring applicants with deeper pockets.”

Deputy chief of Bakgatla, Kgosi Bana Sekai, echoed the same concerns and alleged that some double allocations were meant to compensate “friends and preferred applicants.” 

Kgosi Sekai shared that his office was inundated with land grievances, from unresolved inheritance disputes to delayed appeals, noting that in some instances, “some litigants end up losing their witnesses” before cases were ever resolved.

Kgatleng Central MP, Mr Mpho Morolong, concurred with Kgosi Sekai that his office had similarly turned into a complaints’ office where land disputes topped the list. 

Mr Morolong assured the meeting that he had already made an effort to write to the Office of the President regarding the land crisis in Kgatleng and had invited the President to address Bakgatla directly on the matter.

The human toll of losing communal heritage was expressed most sharply by Kgosi Ishmael Rakgati of Dikgonnye, who accused landboard members of nepotism and allocating themselves land reserved as communal space. 

Kgosi Rakgati expressed frustration over the disappearance of pastoral land.

“I no longer know where to report because Dikgonnye no longer has land zoned for grazing,” he lamented.

Meanwhile, through their demonstration, residents are demanding that authorities conduct a comprehensive land audit in Kgatleng, re-evaluate the allocation process to prioritise local applicants and urgently resolve delayed transfers, change of land use and sub-divisions. ENDS