Kweneng Land Board goes after land grabbers
Mompati Tlhankane | Monday April 24, 2023 06:00
According to the Kweneng Land Board chairperson Kgang Kgang, involved parties include councillors, judges, lawyers, former Land Board employees, Board members, and high-ranking members in the military.
In 2019, the Mogoditshane Sub-Land Board announced that when one surrenders their ploughing field, he or she would get six residential plots as compensation. This was coined into a policy called Compensation-In-Kind and while residents ululated at the development, a trend of land grabbing emerged within the system and the policy was suspended. The policy provided a loophole for some corrupt Land Board officers to acquire fields through dubious means to get compensation in kind. There was an influx of people buying the ploughing fields at around P100,000 a hectare only to later sell their six residential plots for around P250,000 each.
In a media briefing this week, Kgang disclosed that in one case at the council, one person was given 117 plots while another was given 28 hectares from a field. He was quick to indicate that Compensation-In-Kind was stopped because it was unlawful. Kgang added that what was shocking about these plots is that they involved 206 fields which translates to almost 1,000 hectares and this is over 7,000 plots. “We are still discovering some. People had been on the waiting list since 1991 and had been told that there were no plots available yet. But with this Compensation-In-Kind model plots, all of a sudden became available. They wanted us to tamper the law with mercy but we couldn’t do that. They bought fields so that they can abuse this model,” he further disclosed. He indicated that some former workers who had abused the compensation-in-kind policy have begged for mercy and have since returned the plots. Kgang said some of the people they have fired include senior officials within the Land Board.
Kgang also pointed out that the controversy around the policy included a few councillors and politicians who wanted to be favoured at the expense of the law. He said as a former politician he cannot entertain their demands just because he once sat beside them in political circles.
“There are five councillors in total across all political parties. They even tried to have me fired by passing a motion of confidence against me. They wanted to embarrass me,” indicated Kgang, who refused to disclose their names. He added that the Board has even called those who are on the current Board.
“We want the plots so that we can allocate them to people. The law talks about equitable distribution of land. The Land Board cannot give you 10 plots while another person has none. These are the sins which were committed," he explained.
Kgang also disclosed that there were lawyers who approached the elderly offering legal representation in exchange for plots. He said a lot of elderly people were swindled out of their land.
“There is a way land is allocated and it is guided by the Tribal Land Act. Anything illegal cannot be done by the Land Board. Rules were flouted when the policy was first implemented. So as the fracas with compensation-in-kind worsened, we ended up seeking legal advice,” he added.
He, however, said with those who had already benefited from the policy and were compensated by the appropriate authority, will go scot-free because they cannot turn back the hands of time. Last month, the Land Resolution Committee which included residents of the affected areas of Gabane, Mogoditshane, Mmopane, and Metsimotlhabe expressed their intent to take on government over suspension of the policy. They felt that the Land Board has unlawfully and unreasonably without any basis in the law made resolutions to compensate clients for the acquisition of their fields and never followed through with their resolutions. They wanted the minister to intervene before taking legal action as a unit. Their demands included: Reinstatement of all unlawful cancellations of title with the false promise of compensation-in-kind; that the Kweneng Land Board provides a written undertaking that all agricultural land have consent to comply with the development plans as that is the only logical legal position; to immediately render or process all applications that have been submitted and unlawfully deferred by the Kweneng Land Board; That the Deeds Registry Office must immediately and without further delays process all submissions made to Deeds Registry for Registration of Title for Mixed Use General Plans or Survey Diagrams on what used to be fields; to immediately release all leases with planning approvals that have been applied for and the leases deliberately withheld at the instance of the Kweneng Land Board; that the Department of Surveys and Mapping shall immediately and without further delays process all submissions made to the Department of Surveys and Mapping for subdivision of mixed-use layouts from what used to be fields and procedurally approved by planning authorities; and that the Deeds Registry Office shall immediately and without further delays process all submissions made to the Deeds Registry for Registration of Title for Mixed Use General Plans or Survey Diagrams on what used to be fields.