Over 44,000 plots surveyed amid outcry
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday March 9, 2026 09:36
According to the acting Minister, during the 2025/2026 financial year, a total of 44,112 plots were surveyed across the country. This, he noted, forms part of ongoing efforts to address long-standing concerns surrounding land allocation delays. Furthermore, out of the surveyed plots, 12,416 have already been approved. Meanwhile, during the Committee of Supply, Dikoloti said the remaining 31,696 plots are currently undergoing examination and quality control processes before they can be cleared for allocation.
“Having surveyed almost all plots within the built-up area, the plan for 2026/2027 is to commence surveying of land parcels to facilitate private sector investment for socio-economic development,” he said. While on Secure Land Titles, the acting Minister revealed that to date, a total of 19,621 have been issued, against 68,190 plots captured through Registered General Plans.
“The remaining 48,569 await registration. This demonstrates a significant gap between the national plot inventory and the number of titles reaching completion. Production initially rose after the amendments to the Deeds Registry Act of 2017 and the coming into force of the Tribal Land Act of2018, with 2,707 SLTs issued in 2022/2023 and a peak of 7,655 in 2023/2024,” he pointed out.
He, however, said output declined to 6,136 in 2024/2025 and 3,126 in 2025/2026 due to budget constraints, outdated equipment, incomplete ICT integration and persistent technical requirements such as the mandatory registration of Certificates of Registered Title under Section 46 of the Deeds Registry Act, which constrains registration in old villages. Additionally, he said the proposed amendment to waive this requirement for built-up areas will unlock large volumes of pending titles.
“ To stabilise and accelerate SLT production, my Ministry will implement two major digital modernisation projects under NDP 12: the upgrades of the Land Information System (LIS) and the Integrated Geographic Information System (IGIS),” Dikoloti said.
Moreover, Dikoloti said these will be delivered over a four-year horizon to strengthen automation, improve spatial and administrative data quality, enable full interoperability across all land administration institutions and introduce essential functionalities such as registration of deceased-estate leases, conversions from customary to common-law leases, and processing of subdivisions under Certificates of Registered Title and General Plans.
He said the IGIS upgrade will further enhance spatial accuracy and ensure seamless data flow into LIS. In addition, he said strong governance and monitoring will support consistent, efficient and high-volume SLT delivery. “This will also be implemented over a four-year horizon, supported by structured governance and monitoring to ensure disciplined execution, full benefits realisation and sustained efficiency across the land administration system,” he said. “The ministry proposes an Electronic Deeds Registration Systems Act, which will be an Act to provide for electronic deeds registration, recognising legislation regulating electronic communication and transactions, and to make provision for matters incidental thereto.”
He said it is key to have a land registration system digitalised for purposes of addressing not only systematic deficiencies but also technical shortcomings intimately connected or associated with the manual nature of doing land registration business at the Deeds Registry.
With that, the acting Minister pointed out that the Land Servicing programme facilitates infrastructure development within a surveyed piece of land to render it usable and to enable access to plots. Therefore, the following three categories have been adopted for Land Servicing: Full land servicing, Bulk land servicing and Minimal land servicing. Due to liquidity challenges, the Ministry provides minimal land services such as bush clearing on pathways, grubbing and de-stumping, access road construction and construction of a water trunk main for standpipe connections for access into newly allocated plots.
Still on that, the acting Minister said that due to the prevailing economic challenges, the allocated budgetary provision for 2026/2027 is also restricted to only ongoing projects, which are at various stages of implementation. “These include six (6) projects being: Ghanzi Block 7, Ghanzi Block 1-6, Botshabelo Infill, Metsimotlhabe Block 4 Package 1, Mmankgodi-Tloaneng-Gabane Road and SSKIA SEZ. In addition to these, there are four other projects which are currently at defects liability period, being Metsimotlhabe Block 4 –Package 2, Mmopane Block 1, Kachikau and Letlhakane/Letsibogo,” he revealed.
On access to land, Dikoloti said Batswana’s attachment to land is clearly understood; as land to a Motswana is a means of production, a family property, a source of identity and a capital asset to unlock potentials. “My Ministry will strive to support all sectors with access to land, including the key sectors of renewable energy, agriculture, tourism and real estate development,” he said.
Further pointing out that access to and timely allocation of land remains a major issue in both state and tribal jurisdictions. However, the acting Minister said the Botswana Land Policy, 2019, has made unequivocal pronouncements on land access, but many Batswana are still on the waiting list for plot allocation. “Numerous factors, such as a lack of resources, have contributed to this state of affairs, but the availability of land free of encumbrances is the most significant,” he said.
He said 877 residential plots in Selebi Phikwe and Francistown have been available for allocation to citizens since 2022, but allocations were delayed due to concerns about data readiness and system functionality. He said his Ministry commits to allocating these plots by the first quarter of the 2026/2027 fiscal year. “Additional 200 residential plots in Lobatse and 12 in Gaborone will also be allocated during this fiscal year,” he said. He said to support economic resurgence and investor facilitation, his Ministry have allocated 23 industrial plots and 71 commercial plots in the cities of Gaborone, Lobatse and Francistown in the just-ended fiscal year. “Further, investors were facilitated through BITC and SPEDU, where land for investment was reserved as follows: SPEDU - 9 direct allocation; BITC - 4 direct allocation for commercial projects in Jwaneng,” he said.
He revealed that Land Boards across the country have extensively supported investment through the provision of land as follows: 7661.7ha were allocated for Foreign Investment, and for the promotion of domestic investment, 16,475.5ha were allocated to citizen-owned companies.
While on the Bonno project, he said his Ministry has supported it through providing land for development. “In that regard, a total of 168ha in different places were reserved in state land with a possible yield of 150,000 residential units. Across all Land Boards, 281.5ha targeting 15, 872 plots have been reserved for the Bonno project,” he revealed.