No Land Board upgrade plans – Mzwinila
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Tuesday February 6, 2024 06:00
He clarified that this is because there is no specific provision for the restructuring of the Land Board in the Tribal Land Act.
Last year, the government restructured and upgraded some sub-districts to fully-fledged districts to bring services closer to the people.
The restructuring and rationalisation resulted in 25 fully-fledged districts, raising expectations that the sub-land boards would also be upgraded. However, when addressing members of Ntlo Ya Dikgosi recently, Mzwinila explained that the creation of subordinate land boards is provided for under the Tribal Land Act, while the Local Government Acts provide for the restructuring of the councils. “There is no specific provision for restructuring the Land Board in the Tribal Land Act.
Therefore, any restructuring will require the amendment of the Tribal Land Act and its associated schedule,” the minister said. Moreover, he explained that the jurisdictions of the Land Board aligned with the schedules of the Tribal Territories Act. “Mr chairman, since there is no provision in the Act specifically empowering the minister or abolishing the Land Board, a detailed consultation process will have to be undertaken which will define, explain and justify the need for the process,” he added. Mzwinila was responding to a question by Kgosi James Khumanego of Ngwaketse West Region, who asked the minister if he would consider upgrading sub-land boards to the main Land Board in all newly established districts across the country.
“To date, my ministry has established 41 subordinate Land Boards which serve the 25 districts. Most of the districts are served by more than one Sub Land Board. At the moment, my ministry is focused on capacitating and resourcing the Land Boards to provide efficient services to Batswana,” he said. “There are no immediate plans to upgrade the existing 41 sub-land boards and or align Land Board boundaries with the existing administrative boundaries. The discussions to embark on restructuring and upgrading will be brought to this house once it has been formulated.”