No mercy for disgruntled Kgatleng land owners
Innocent Selatlhwa | Monday November 22, 2021 06:00
Kgatleng Land Board admits it was a blunder caused by their employees at the Oodi Sub Land Board, it has on November 8 given the affected land owners three months to destroy any developments and restore their land to ploughing fields.
The just over 100 affected individuals through their spokesperson, Gilbert Sesinyi, wrote a scathing five page letter seeking intervention of the highest office.
“In blatant words, verbatim, ‘....You are directed to restore the land to its original use, which is a ploughing field, within three months from the date of this resolution..’ the letter from Kgatleng Land Board is dated 8th November 2021, a day before the State of the Nation (SONA) speech. This is one of the many similar letters that have been issued to some law abiding Batswana who had followed the law and the Presidential Directive Cab 14 and had accordingly received approvals. Now the Kgatleng Land Board that interestingly has strange protection of the senior members of government comes and reverses the gains under the false pretext that the Oodi sub Land Board had no power,” Sesinyi wrote in a letter in which they are pleading with President Mokgweetsi Masisi, Minister for Land, Sanitation and Water Resources, Kefentse Mzwinila and Chief of Staff Boyce Sebetela.
Sesinyi argued that it is senseless that Kgatleng Land Board supervises Oodi Sub Land Board, and receives monthly reports on performance and decisions made. The Kgatleng Land Board does not explain why it is distancing itself from decisions of its subordinate two years later and why clients suffer for internal issues.
“The Kgatleng land developers have advised the government of this abuse, and for as long as there is no consequence and action from the leadership, this abuse of office, waste of government funds on litigation will continue to spiral out of control. The Kgatleng Land Board and management are a law unto themselves, and so far they appear to be totally untouchable, dragging the governance levels to record lows defying the position of President Masisi. We call on the Minister, Chief of Staff and Masisi to urgently intervene. This is in actual fact a state of emergency in that technocrats have taken over and skewed the law to cause mass poverty and unemployment by denying the very forces intended to eradicate it,” he wrote.
Sesinyi lamented that some of the land that the Land Board has instructed that it must be restored back to ploughing fields, has been fully developed and owners are in possession of title deeds.
He said some of the land was allocated by the Land Board itself and individuals used banking finance to build houses. Sesinyi said banks are bond holders over property to be demolished stating that it is a very serious financial risk to the banking sector and government cannot take it lightly.
“The cruel Land Board officials are blinded by their malice aforethoughts that they do not think beyond their myopia to see the bigger picture which is the rise of our people in economic strength and success. It is a case of espionage to damage the security of tenure for the innocent public by irresponsible technocrats. For the sake of peace and the security of this nation these civil servants need to be arrested for their crimes, crimes cannot go unpunished lest chaos become the order of the day,” he said.
In June, Kgatleng Land Board chairperson, Esther Serati at a press briefing called to address issues said: “In discharging its duties, the Kgatleng Land Board cannot abdicate its legally given rights to effectively manage land and equitably allocate it. It will continue to consider all matters on their own merits and to decide accordingly without fear of precedence or undue favour, especially where there is a possibility of perpetuating illegalities. The Sub Land Board is also a creature of stature and has functions within which it operates. Persons aggrieved by the decision of the Land Board are at liberty to appeal to the courts.”
Serati said the spate of inappropriately sanctioned change of land use of agricultural land within the area of jurisdiction of the Oodi Sub Land Board has the potential of leading to unregulated, unplanned and incongruous development of settlements; which will in time prove to be costly to service and maintain by the government. “Planning will be non-existent if no development plans are followed. If development is only dictated by the public, then the process of planning principles will be violated. Food security is threatened by reducing the already scarce productive agricultural land that exists in the country,” she said.