Masisi to allocate the 100 000th plot in Kanye

The President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi is expected to allocate the last plot of the set target of 100 000 plots in Kanye on the 11th of June 2024.Before then, Minister of Lands and Water Affairs, Dr Kefentse Mzwinila will allocate the 99 900th plot in Mochudi next week Tuesday.According to the minister, they are happy at achieving this milestone of the target set by the president. He stated that even though there have been challenges, he is happy that they have finally managed to reach the target.Dr Mzwinila told this publication on Wednesday that in the past the ministry used to allocate between 8 600 to 9000 plots per year. He revealed that since the setting of the target the ministry allocates around 50 000 plots each year.“We know there have been criticism against this target and that we are not delivering as per our promise. But remember we managed to reach half of the target in a year. We were doing all these without increased human capital and increased fund.“All we did was to prioritise on the Transformational Agenda and the Mindset Change. Which is why we managed with the little we had”, he said, adding that there were challenges encountered but they remained focused.“First we needed land to allocate. So we had to get into negotiations with those who hold the land. When villages grow, they expand into ploughing fields. Ploughing fields then take the grazing land and grazing land eat into the wildlife management space. So we have to start with the process of engaging those people”, the minister explained.According to Dr Mzwinila, there also had to be Base Map from the land board followed by spatial planning. He added that there were challenges of surveying."We got delayed because as government we do not have enough surveyors. So we then decided to engage those in the private sector. This procurement was delayed because there were complaints by some of the private surveyors and it took some months but eventually all matters were resolved.”The minister pointed out that the aim of his ministry is for Batswana to own land. He said land is a precious resource that gives a person dignity. Dr Mzwinila indicated that they operationalised the amended Tribal Land Act in 2022.The aim was to ensure that tribal land has value just like freehold and state land. “We wanted the tribal land to have the same value and price as the other two types of land”, he said adding that this is to ensure that Batswana enjoy the benefits of tribal land.The other challenges faced by land boards were that some of the applicants did not qualify as they had already been allocated plots.“If for argument sake we have 100 applicants and 100 plots, we end up allocating 50 or 60 because the others will be disqualified as they already have plots.”

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Masisi to allocate the 100 000th plot in Kanye