Kweneng board chairperson 'losses' in land rights case
Mpho Mokwape | Tuesday June 13, 2023 06:00
Kgang Kgang, who is fighting with alleged rightful owner Boitumelo Setlhabi and four others for the said ploughing field, is claiming ownership and has since reportedly developed it.
Last week Tuesday he lost an application in which he sought for the matter to be referred to trial arguing that there was a dispute of facts about the ploughing field. The interlocutory application was filed after Setlhabi and the four others made an application seeking to evict him from the plot.
When ruling on the matter, Justice Michael Motlhabi of the Gaborone High Court dismissed the application on the reason that Kgang failed to establish a legal basis for converting the eviction application to trial proceedings.
Motlhabi ruled that the eviction application would continue on affidavits despite Kgang's claim of a dispute of facts. "If there are disputes of facts they are not material to the eviction application as Setlhabi and the four others hold valid title to the subdivided Mmokolodi plot," said Motlhabi.
The judge explained that Kgang has not at any point claimed to have a certificate of title to the disputed plot and that he has been aware that the land has been transferred to Setlhabi's father as far back as 2005 but did not take any action to vindicate his alleged title since becoming aware that it was disputed. Motlhabi also pointed out that Kgang's two letters he placed reliance on do not expressly state that he inherited the land and that ownership was passed to him in the year 2000.
Meanwhile, according to court papers, Kgang has occupied the ploughing field since 2002 while Setlhabi claims to be the rightful owner of the field through inheritance from his father.
Setlhabi, who has since subdivided the disputed ploughing field and transferred it to four other people, Lebone Mophuting, Ndiwe Gaolape, Taelo Pabalelo and Tiro Pabalelo, who want to evict Kgang from the property. Setlhabi's case is that the Land Board had registered in her name a certificate of customary land grant as an inheritance from her father, Cecil Simon Setlhabi.
However, Kgang on the other hand says the ploughing field belongs to him and won't vacant it hence an application for the matter to be referred to trial for dispute of facts. He relied on the alleged fact that he inherited the ploughing field from his aunt Motshudi Motlapele in 2000 and as proof he had attached a letter from Mmankgodi Customary Court authored by the chief stating that indeed Kgang inherited the plot from his aunt.
At the back of the facts is that the disputed ploughing field was initially solely owned by Setlhabi who subsequently subdivided the said property into hectares. The subdivided hectares were then transferred to four others each owing a portion of the plot respectively.
By application filed on October 7, 2021, Setlhabi and the four owners sought eviction of Kgang from the ploughing field on the basis that they are the rightful owners of the land and as such they are entitled to undisturbed possession.
Kgang reportedly opposed the matter claiming that he had been in occupation of the property since 2002 and had developed it. "Ontlametse Kgang's claim to ownership was by virtue of it having been a bogosi/old allocation of inheritance to him.
It was not based on the certificate of a title like Setlhabi. The application for eviction was prompted by the alleged unlawful occupation and development of the property by Kgang," reads the court papers. Kgang's current loss comes after he filed an interlocutory application on November 28, 2022, for the matter to be referred to trial arguing that there was a dispute of facts and that the matter could not be decided on affidavits.