CLEAN UP

The president of Botswana Association of Tribal Land Authorities (BATLA) Kgang Kgang says it is of paramount importance for all land boards and other stakeholders affected in land allocation to know and understand the law.Kgang says ignorance or not knowing the law is what causes mistakes, this is why they are deliberately making efforts to educate all, including land board employees.He acknowledged that the reason some Batswana are 'crying' about having been on waiting lists for more than two decades is because the law was not followed, this led to many mistakes being committed in the process.They are now busy trying to clean the mess and this is why some land boards have halted land allocation until everything is resolved.Kgang pointed that land sagas at Kgatleng and Mogoditshane saw innocent Batswana swindled of their farms. The compensation model used at the time was also wrong, some people walked out with six to eight residential plots.As part of their clean-up campaign, they will be conducting workshops countrywide, educating Batswana about land board services to prevent conflicts.Kgang said most Batswana do not know much about laws governing allocation of land, they believe what they want or have heard in the streets and in most cases, the information is misleading.When they try to explain the proper way of doing things, there is resentment, and some go to the extent of threatening that they will report land board to ministers.The biggest headache that also stalls land allocation is of people giving themselves land and expecting land boards to understand.“We do not enjoy sending yellow monsters to destroy people’s homes, but we find ourselves forced by circumstances. We do not wake up and send destroy, usually there are consultations, the law followed but people ignore it,”he said.Another thing which the public should know he said is that once allocated a plot, one is expected to develop it or show markings at the very least in six weeks, failing which the land board will reclaim it.

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