Land issues need urgency

The Monitor Editor | Tuesday March 14, 2023 06:00

The new certificate replaces the old Customary Land Grant certificate, which Land Boards have been issueing since 1970 following their establishment. Nine months on, only 1,952 more SLTs have been issued.

Minister of Lands and Water Affairs Kefentse Mzwinila has said the suspension of a tender award for a Cadastral survey by the Procurement Tribunal has caused the delay in the issuance of Secure Land Titles. Responding to a question in Parliament this week, the minister said out of the 493,004 people who registered their plots, 1,953 people have been issued with SLTs as of February. Masisi said his government recognises robust and transparent Land Administration as a tool for advancing economic development.

He said they are confident that these land reforms will unlock the true potential and economic value of Tribal Land. He emphasised that Batswana will now directly use the Secure Land Title as security or collateral to access financial assistance from financial institutions, thus unlocking the economic potential of Tribal Land. It is disappointing that, like almost everything else in Botswana, we are good at coming up with solutions to our problems on paper but fail dismally when it comes to implementation. It is unacceptable that this process is so slow and Batswana are held at ransom as they cannot get any of the benefits they could reap from owning land.

According to Minister Mzwinila, over 60,000 plots would be available immediately after the process is complete. We need to ensure that we do not just get promises and hit the target of 100,000 plots per year. We thus urge you Mr President, minister, and all authorities, to pay extra attention to all these processes and ensure that Batswana get their SLTs and benefit from their land. Now turning to land owners, it is disappointing that just under 60% of plots were registered towards the process.

We need to take up such initiatives seriously and play our role so we can demand accountability. The Land Boards and all authorities do whatever they can on our behalf. How do we then hold them to account if we do not meet our end of the bargain? Let's get up, register our land, and demand better service from authorities.