Mogoditshane landboard backlog at over 120 000 applications

Mogoditshane Sub Land Board is working on cleaning the waiting list that is in excess of 120 000 applications to ensure that only those who have not been allocated plots by the Land Board are maintained in the waiting list.

Mogoditshane-Thamaga Council Chairman Dux Mafoko says a total of 54 000 applicants in the waiting list have been identified as having plots elsewhere in Tribal Land and communication will be made to show cause why their applications should not be rejected as they already have residential plots.

According to Mafoko, this undertaking is in line with the Botswana National Land Policy Clause 58 (i) where a person is allowed to have one residential plot in Tribal Land. This exercise, he said, is expected to drastically reduce Mogoditshane Sub Land Board waiting list.

Following the enacted Tribal Land Act of 2018, which dictates that all land should be re-registered to enable issuance of the Secure Land title, Thamaga Sub Land Board re-registration stood at 10 859 as at 10th of March 2023.

He said it is worth noting that since the inception of the new certificate, Thamaga Sub Land Board has registered 29 deeds of customary land grants out of 187 allocations.

Mafoko explained that the land board is in the process of issuing the deeds to the owners. He said the remainders are in the process of preparation for registration at Deeds Registry.

Speaking during the Mogoditshane-Thamaga Full Council Meeting, Mafoko revealed that the waiting list for Thamaga village stands at 15 523.

“Plot allocation for Thamaga village is scheduled to be held on the 24th to 31st March 2023 for demarcated residential plots at Thokwane where 315 plots will be allocated during the session.

Furthermore, the department of Town and Country Planning presented to the community of Thamaga a layout for Dilege in Thamaga on the 18th January 2023 and a total of 843 plots are expected to come out of the layout,”

Mafoko told the councillors.

Sadly, the waiting list for Kumakwane stands at 14 640 and there has not been any allocation since 2006. Future Allocations for Phase 1 and Phase 2 of Development Plan are pending compensations of acquired land, Mafoko said, adding that the waiting list for Mankgodi since 2006 is 9 973 and the current allocated list number stands at 1 152 which also dates as far back as 2006.

He explained that the last residential allocations were done in November 2022 where 186 residential plots out of 267 residential were allocated. The remaining plots were contaminated by a pipeline, rock outcrops and un-acquired Lesope.

The waiting list for Ramaphatle, which dates back from 2015, stands at 9 260. No allocations have been made so far as zoning of the village is still on-going. Mafoko said there is need to acquire some of the ploughing fields for village expansion.

The waiting list for Gakgatla stands at 9 390 and was last allocated 1 654 in July 2022. A total of 429 residential plots were allocated out of 458 plots. The remainder which were contaminated fell within un-acquired garden and some affected by a stream.

Lastly the waiting list for Kubung stands at 4 332 of which the last allocated number stands at 1 220 which was done in December 2019.