The culprits in Botswana�s land shortage

Most land seekers as these pictured recently in Oodi, are young people who cannot afford to buy land or get a mortgage
Most land seekers as these pictured recently in Oodi, are young people who cannot afford to buy land or get a mortgage

Last week’s stampede for land in Oodi shows someone is not doing something right. Staff Writer GREG KELEBONYE looks at some of the culprits and ponders the reality of their transgression. He also considers some possible solutions and tries to find out if they can really extricate Botswana from the bog of landlessness.

Last week tens of thousands of people besieged Oodi Land board premises, each one of them hoping to get one of about 400 available plots in the areas of Dikwididi, Oodi and Modipane.

It is easy to understand why so many people would stampede as they did over so few plots. The plots are given gratis. On the other hand, to buy such a freely given plot, say in Modipane, you would have to part with no less than P200,000. This is more than 10 times the annual income of most people.

Editor's Comment
Inspect the voters' roll!

The recent disclosure by the IEC that 2,513 registrations have been turned down due to various irregularities should prompt all Batswana to meticulously review the voters' rolls and address concerns about rejected registrations.The disparities flagged by the IEC are troubling and emphasise the significance of rigorous voter registration processes.Out of the rejected registrations, 29 individuals were disqualified due to non-existent Omang...

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