Amnesty looms as lease arrears hit P2bn
Innocent Selatlhwa | Wednesday March 18, 2026 06:00
This was said by Minister Dr Edwin Dikoloti in response to a parliamentary question by Jwaneng-Mabutsane legislator Omphemetse Kwapa. He had quizzed whether there are any plans to introduce a lease rental amnesty.
Dikoloti said lease rental amnesty is a recognised practice in the real estate sector and is often used by governments to encourage defaulters to regularise their accounts, either through partial debt relief or the waiver of penalties. “Such measures help bring defaulters back into compliance, unlock land that is otherwise constrained by debt, and restore it to productive economic use, whilst at the same time improving revenue collection for government,” he said.
The minister said the Land Lab, which serves as a structured platform for addressing systemic challenges affecting land administration, also covers lease management, compliance with development conditions, and the growing accumulation of lease rental arrears. Through the Land Lab, facilitated under the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme (BETP), Dikoloti said the ministry has commenced work on interventions to address lease rental arrears that have negatively affected investment, particularly in the tourism and energy sectors.
He said the initiative will, in due course, be extended to other sectors once an appropriate formula has been developed and the necessary government approvals have been secured.
For land boards, the minister said lease rentals form part of their own source of revenue, which, if collected, could contribute to the resourcing of the land boards in terms of procurement of surveying equipment and vehicles, bandwidth upgrading and maintenance of facilities, amongst others. “My ministry budget for the financial year 2026–2027, which this house passed on the 2nd March 2026, consists of P645, 128, 740 as a revenue support grant to the Land Boards. This amount is one-third of what is owed to the land boards in terms of lease rentals. It is therefore imperative that the Land Boards strengthen their revenue collection efforts,” he said.
Dikoloti said doing so will significantly reduce their heavy reliance on government subventions, particularly at a time when a substantial portion of their own potential revenue remains locked up in accumulated rental arrears.
The Goodhope-Mmathethe legislator said previous debt recovery strategies have not yielded the desired results.
“It is for this reason that lease rental amnesty is being considered as a possible intervention, and in this regard, my ministry will also draw lessons from the experience of the Water Utilities Corporation,” he said.
He further said that the coming into force of the Tribal Land Regulations in April 2022 resulted in a significant increase in lease rentals for Tribal Land.
“For example, lease rentals for industrial plots increased from 10 thebe per square metre per annum to 70 thebe per square metre per annum, representing a 600% increase. Similarly, surface rights fees for gravel and sand mining increased from eight thebe per square metre per month to P1 per square metre per month, representing an increase of 1,150%,” he said. Following representations from members of the public, the minister said these fees were revised downwards in October 2024. In the case of industrial plots, lease rentals were reduced and differentiated between citizens and non-citizens. Citizens now pay 20 thebe per square metre per annum, whilst non-citizens pay 50 thebe per square metre per annum. Surface rights fees were also reduced to 12 thebe per square metre per month.
Notwithstanding these revisions, the minister said the arrears that accumulated during the period 2022 to 2024 remain outstanding.
“Debtors have attributed their failure to meet lease rental obligations to the difficult economic conditions, particularly the effects of the COVID-19 period, which undermined business activity and reduced their capacity to pay. They have also cited the steep increases in lease rentals during that period as being beyond the means of many businesses,” he said.
Dikoloti said these factors are currently being assessed through the Land Lab in order to arrive at an informed government position on the possible introduction of a lease rental amnesty. He said the overall objective is to support compliance, revive productive land use, and contribute to economic transformation.