BDP regime spent P167.7m on 100,000 plots
Spira Tlhankane | Wednesday February 25, 2026 06:11
Responding to questions from Molepolole North Member of Parliament (MP) Arafat Khan, the acting Minister of Lands and Agriculture Edwin Dikoloti laid bare the costs behind the headline-grabbing programme initiated in 2022.
“In order to meet the requirements of the Botswana Land Policy of 2019, which provides that plots should be allocated after survey, the then Ministry of Lands and Water Affairs, in August 2022, floated a tender for the survey and examination of the records,” Dikoloti told Parliament.
He explained that the tender had two components.
“Part A, which covered the cadastral survey and the preparation of General Plans for individual plots, was awarded to 27 citizen-owned companies at a contract value of P85,023,750. 'Part B, which involved the examination and verification of the survey records, was awarded to six citizen-owned companies at a cost of P7,704,360. The total value of the survey works under both components amounted to P92,728,110.”
The figure, he said, excluded additional spending by land boards.
“In addition to the cost of survey works spent at the ministry level, the land boards spent about P75 million from their budgets towards plot allocation activities,” Dikoloti added.
The 100,000 plots target was first announced in June 2022, with the promise that allocations would be completed within a year. However, the Goodhope-Mmathethe legislator revealed that whilst the target was set for one year, its attainment was celebrated after two years, in June 2024.”
The land delivery process, he said, is far more complex than headline figures suggest.
“The land delivery process includes preparation of a development plan, land acquisition, detailed planning, surveying, land servicing, registration of the parent plots, allocation, and registration of the Deed of Customary Land Grant, commonly known as Secure Land Title (SLT).”
Despite the massive allocation drive, Dikoloti revealed that only 12,586 beneficiaries have been issued with STLs.
“The gap between allocated plots and registered titles reflects systemic constraints in data readiness, workflow integration, staffing levels, institutional coordination, and digital system alignment within the land administration value chain,” he admitted.
The acting minister conceded that titles were deferred in order to hit the ambitious allocation target.
“These constraints were managed by deferring title registration and issuing resolutions in place of land titles. This process bypass was meant to achieve the target set,” Dikoloti said.