Banika, Shamukuni hail major land victory
Lebogang Mosikare | Monday November 13, 2023 06:00
Banika, who is recognised as the supreme traditional leader of San tribes in the Chobe District (CD) in the Ntlo-ya-Dikgosi, was challenging the decision of the Chobe Land Board (CLB) to reserve only 458ha of land to the Pandamatenga community instead of 2500 hactares which according to her was expected from the Pandamatenga Agricultural Infrastructure Development Project (PAIDP). According to court documents, Banika took the court route after CLB’s Board resolved to reject the claim for the 2500 hactares on the basis that there was no such undertaking in place but reserved four farms for the local community. The case’s background is that in or around 1984, Government of (GoB) allocated an area of 25,07ha to farmers in the Pandamatenga area with an aim to boost cereal production. “Later, the area became overwhelmed with high rainfall density which resulted in frequent flooding of the allocated land. This rendered traversing the fields impossible during the cropping season. As a result, the GoB commissioned a study to determine the most cost effective method of resolving the seasonal floodwater access road problems in the Pandamatenga farms. The resultant study report recommended construction of water drainage works and access roads as long term remedies. After cost estimates were made, the GoB required ADB to finance the project and this was met with success. An additional 2500ha of land was demarcated to leave the total area of farmland to the community affected by the project at an estimated 27,574ha,” as per the court ruling.
The ruling further says that the extra 2500ha has become a deeply contested issue between the Appellant and CLB. “The Appellant asserts that the 2500ha was intended to benefit 266 households existing in Pandamatenga as at 2008 in the allocation of the farmland by the CLB. On the other hand, the CLB denies the existence of any such undertaking. An advertisement of small scale farms in Pandamatenga under tender CLB/04/04 of 2017 by the Respondent prompted the Appellant to successfully apply for an interdict against the allocation of the reserved land. This interdict was granted pending a hearing before the CLB as the Appellant believed the land envisioned to be allocated included the 2500ha earmarked for Pandamatenga. During its board sitting on June 22 to July 2020, the CLB invited the Appellant for a hearing and after deliberations determined as follows (a): It acknowledges the Appellant’s submissions that it wants to be allocated the whole 2500.
However, it has resolved to reject the request of allocating 2500ha as per the Tribal Land Act Cap 32:02 as read with the Botswana Land Policy which clearly stipulate the land allocation procedure...,” further the says the ruling by president of the Land Tribunal, Bannister Mokakangwe. Aggrieved by the decision, Mokakangwe continued, the Appellant registered the current application. According to the Appellant, it is clear from the actions and a number of documents that GoB in partnership with the CLB reserved 2500ha for her community as a condition to obtain a loan and/or grant from ADB. Flowing from that, Mokakangwe said the Appellant then called a number of witnesses to motivate its case while the CLB having been ordered to file written submissions, at its own peril, failed and/or neglected to do so. “The respondent’s case can only be discerned from the pleadings on the court’s record...” “Consequently, we make the following determination (a) This appeal succeeds (b) It is declared that the undertaking to allocate 2500ha of land to the 266 households existing in Pandamatenga was made as a condition to obtain the ADB loan is consistent with the Appellant’s claim (c) It was unlawful for the CLB to renege from the undertaking without due cause (d) The CLB is therefore ordered to allocate the reserved 2500ha of land as originally intended for the benefit of 266 households in Pandamatenga as at 2008 and (e) Each part shall bear its own costs,” said the Tribunal.
When Mmegi contacted Kgosi Banika for comment after the delivery of the ruling, she hailed the judgment as victory for the 266 households who will benefit from the ADB loan. “This was a straightforward issue because the CLB did not want to listen to us. We have long anticipated the tribunal to rule in our favour. We greatly embrace the tribunal’s ruling because at long last, it gave us what we have long wanted. We hope that the CLB will not appeal the ruling because we are now within the ploughing season in order to enable the affected 266 households to till the land,” Banika expressed joy at the ruling. Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for Chobe under which Pandamatenga falls, Machana Shamukuni, also enthusiastically welcomed the ruling. “I am very happy with the decision of the tribunal and I stand with the community of Pandamantenga. I just hope that the CLB will not appeal the decision of the tribunal so that the community of Pandamatenga will efficiently utilise their piece of land for their benefit and the nation at large as originally envisioned when the PAIDP was conceived. This charge of land has been lying idle for a very long time and it is about time that it is used,” he said. As per the ruling, during the first sitting of the 11th session of Parliament, as contained in the Hansard No 786 dated Tuesday 13 December 2016, Shamukuni asked the Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security to provide background information on the original objectives behind establishing the fields as per the ADB funded project. Shamukuni also enquired as to who the intended beneficiaries were and how and when the fields will be allocated to the intended beneficiaries.
In response, to Shamukuni, the then assistant agriculture minister Kgotla Autlwetse indicated that the original objectives for the establishment of 2500ha fields was to increase crop productivity, to mobilise the farming community and the intended beneficiaries were the “266 households as at the year 2008 and the CLB as the responsible authority was still working on the issue of allocation”. Reached for comment about the tribunal’s ruling, CLB chairperson Bwaanbo Limbo said: “CLB is fully aware of the ruling and will look into the matter to map a way forward.”