Outcry as land boards disqualify plot owning applicants
Kweneng Landboard Chairman Kgang Kgang says some waiting lists are just application lists because some people get disqualified and struck out of the lists as they continue to allocate plots.
The law currently says that any Motswana should have one residential plot given to them by the land board. In addition, they can have land for ploughing and a business plot.
Now what Land boards often find is that some people were allocated land in the past and this automatically disqualifies them during the current allocation processes.
What most Batswana were doing in the past was to apply for land in several villages across the country leading to one owning many plots while others have nothing.
Kgang said when they find that while waiting to be allocated land in Kweneng for instance, one was given land by another land board elsewhere, they decline that application.
This means that those who wanted plots in Gaborone but were given land in other villages in Botswana should forget about getting a second residential plot in the city.
Kgang explained that the ministry of Lands and Water Affairs has a target to allocate a minimum of 100 000 plots by the end of the 2022/23 financial year.
And Kweneng is to allocate around 11 000 plots towards the ministry’s target.
By the end of this month, Kweneng has 909 ready for allocation plots, 162 in Mogoditshane Block 4, 197 plots at Gakgatla, and 550 plots at Takatokwane.
“We want to give Batswana plots, but we are experiencing delays because some people do not show up when called for interviews. We are also being delayed by squatters who are refusing to vacate land they occupied illegally. We are in process of removing them,” Kgang said.
He added that they do not enjoy razing down people’s homes but if they do not, they are denying another citizen their right to land.
He admitted that corruption that was detected at his office was one of the factors that delayed progress. They are currently attending to the mess that was created by their own employees.
The suspended 38 employees wreaked havoc. They took people’s ploughing fields and fooled them into giving them their plot certificates.
“It is a sad turnout, some Batswana have been left empty-handed, plot certificates were taken from them never to be returned, and now there is nothing proving that they ever owned land,” Kgang said.