05 Oct 2026

Government has set a target of 100 000 housing units by 2028 under the Bonno National Housing Programme.

This was said by acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Water and Human Settlements, Ms Boikhutso Botlhole, on October 5, as Botswana revived its national World Habitat Day commemoration for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking on behalf of Minister Onneetse Ramogapi, Ms Botlhole said the revival was a chance to renew collective action toward sustainable human settlements and adequate housing for all Batswana.
Housing, she said, was fundamental to dignity, security, health and well-being and was also central to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 on inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities.

She pointed to government’s sustained investment in potable water, sanitation and other essential services, saying the Bonno programme drove such a commitment further.

Ms Botlhole said reaching the target would require a new approach to delivery, as public resources would be directed to households that needed government support most, while the private sector and the market serve other segments.

That, she explained, would expand overall supply and ensure that public money achieved the greatest social impact.

She however cautioned that numbers alone would not be enough, saying the ambition was sustainable settlements where housing was integrated with infrastructure, social services, economic opportunities and a healthy environment.

She called for a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach and therefore encouraged financial institutions to develop accessible housing finance for households that struggled to qualify for conventional mortgages.

Ms Botlhole also urged developers to deliver quality housing more affordably using new construction technologies and implored planners, architects, engineers and surveyors to design climate-responsive solutions.

Employers, she said, should keep contributing to housing and community development.

“The housing challenge is too significant and complex for one institution or sector to address alone,” she said, urging all parties to build not only more houses, but better, inclusive and sustainable communities.

Welcoming guests, Department of Town and Country Planning director, Mr Kebonyemodisa Ooke, said World Habitat day, observed on the first Monday of October, prompted reflection on every citizen’s right to adequate shelter. 

This year’s national theme was: Adequate Housing for All: Connecting People to Land, Housing Finance and Sustainable Settlement.

Mr Ooke announced that the Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Dr Edwin Dikoloti, had approved the Segoditshane River Corridor Master Plan, which he said was a flagship product of the partnership between government and UN-Habitat.

The plan, he said, would turn the river corridor into a safe, productive and mixed-use urban asset.  By unlocking underutilised land across the capital, it is expected to support the Bonno National Housing Scheme and provide space to house up to 10 000 residents.

“Decent housing is more than just four walls and a roof,” Mr Ooke said, adding that it depended on secure land, affordable financing and well-serviced neighbourhoods.

He stressed that government could not deliver this alone and that housing for all was a shared responsibility. He also urged the media to help educate the public about available housing and land programmes.

UN resident coordinator in Botswana, Ms Wenyan Yang, noted that housing was recognised as a human right under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Ms Yang said more than three billion people worldwide lacked adequate housing, over 1.1 billion lived in informal settlements and hundreds of millions were homeless while conflict, disasters and climate change made the crisis worse.

She said adequate housing required more than building houses, but diversifying delivery through social, public, rental, cooperative and community-led models alongside market-based solutions, supported by sound policy, data and financing.

She welcomed the Housing Experts Working Group, recently launched by the Ministry of Water and Human Settlements and UN-Habitat, as a platform to bring together government, financial institutions, the private sector, academia and civil society. ENDS