Land reforms profitable for citizens

Rolong Landboard Secretary, Mosegofatsi Bose says the implementation of reforms within the Landboard as directed by the Tribal Act of 2018 will allow Batswana to take advantage of opportunities to better their livelihoods.Bose said this week that among reforms, is that Batswana are allowed to venture into integrated farming in their farm lands, where different farming activities can be done as guided by Agriculture regulations. He said this further allows for individuals to build residential houses on their farms where they can stay comfortably while undertaking agricultural activities.“An individual can develop, for example, five units on their plots as a non-commercial guest house but they do not have to change title to commercial,” he said, adding that small scale businesses are also allowed on premises.“We have been going through a tremendous transformation as an organisation in an effort to improve efficiencies and implement President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s Reset Agenda,” Bose said.Since the enactment of the Tribal Act of 2018 in 2022, Bose says their Landboard has been working closely with a variety of stakeholders including Farmers’ Committees, Village Development Committees, District Council, and Local Government.He is happy that now the Rolong Landboard is independent under Goodhope District following the decentralisation process. It is one of the five without Sub-Landboards - Tati, Chobe, Tlokweng and Malete.“We no longer have to go to Kanye, which was our administrative headquarters, and this is one of the excellent developments and benefits of the recent decentralisation,” he said.According to Bose, with the new transformation, the Landboard also works closely with Director of Surveys who approves allocations. In addition, there is a Dual Special Information Centre that facilitates their job, as well as Land Information System that detects multiple allocations, among other things, as it acts as a repository for all allocations.“Transformation is not an easy thing. We now operate as a new entity and we acknowledge the seriousness of the job we do, therefore we are awake to the reality that we need to continuously strike a delicate balance,” he said, adding that they have zero tolerance for corruption as a Landboard.The Landboard has set a target of 2 500 plots to be allocated in the current financial year. This is towards the stipulated 100 000 plots to be allocated across all 12 Landboards across the country, as announced by President Masisi.Rolong Landboard, which covers 30 villages, has a population of 26 099 and a total of over 26 000 plots already allocated. This implies that people from other areas of the country have been allocated land in this jurisdiction. And Bose says as and when plots become available, they should be able to allocate within three months.The Landboard currently has 2 900 plots in their base maps, which are being surveyed with the view to ready them for allocation before the end of the financial year. The Landboard is owed over P10 million and has since come up with several revenue collection strategies to encourage debtors to pay.“Lease rentals are lagging behind as business plots that are supposed to be paying annual fees are not doing so as expected. We are appealing to those who still owe the Landboard to come forward and do so to avoid penalties,” Rolong Landboard Chair, Gloria Segokgo said.

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Land reforms profitable for citizens