The report of the Lobatse Geo-technical Survey 1999/2000 was triggered by the cracking of houses in the Woodhall/Pilikwe and Motswedi/Thema areas. It pointed out complex socio-economic problems that needed urgent attention from both the Lobatse Town Council (LTC) and central government.
The report noted that” early planning philosophies of Lobatse urban landscape had not taken into account some of the environmental aspects currently considered in Environmental Impact Assessments” (EIA). The report warned that “long-term adverse effects on shelter, health, education, source of income and household stability” among others “ be accorded urgent attention by both LTC and central government” as failure would counteract the concept of sustainable development.
There has been no EIA study carried out by the council prior to servicing of plots in the areas in question. The cracking of houses was visible as a consequence of active geology in the town.
For instance houses at Woodhall area cracked because they are confined to a fault zone running in a north-easterly, south-easterly trend. The case of Thema cracking is ascribed to water percolating through the highly permeable hill wash into the founding horizons. The report recommended that people whose houses had cracked be compensated, and those who had been allocated plots at the areas in question be relocated. According to the report maintenance costs would halve the cost of structures erected.
Despite this previously known geology of Lobatse, which was mapped in 1983, millions of Pula nevertheless wwere spent servicing plots, which accommodated government, Botswanana Housing Corporation (BHC) and ordinary Batswana with little or no regard that some houses would crack immediately after completion. According to the 2001 progress report of the study, four BHC houses cracked immediately after construction and the corporation sought P120 000.00 from the council but the council would not budge. The BHC according to the report sold the houses as they were.
According to the LTC chairman, Jimmy Nsala the problem of cracking of houses in Lobatse is not unique to the Woodhall and Motswedi areas. He told Mmegi that the council has adopted a new building standard for the construction of the house foundations. However this new standard is not cheap especially for the low-income earners like those under the new Self-Help-Housing-Agency (SHHA) building scheme. While the scheme can only offer around P20 000 for a three-bedroom house, this cost would only cover the foundation of such a house. According to the town clerk, the construction of the foundation alone costs P18,700.00. Nsala told Mmegi that LTC has already made its own recommendations to government to augment the amount disbursed by the SHHA scheme to enable low income earners to build like their counterparts elsewhere.
The foundation entails digging a trench of between 1.2 and 1.5 m deep depending on the area, which is 1.65 m wide, removal of clay soil, which is replaced by foreign soil that is compacted with a backfill of 15 cm interval.
The reality is that while the council awaits a response from the government along with the red tape that goes with it, 133 people who qualified under the scheme more than three years ago have still to realise their dreams of owning homes.
They have been delayed because the areas where they have been allocated plots are not habitable due to the cracking so they are waiting to be relocated. Nsala says that the delay is not their problem at LTC. He shifts the blame to the Department of Surveys and Lands whom he said have still to complete the survey while some 7413 prospective SHHA home owners have already submitted their applications for house loans.
