Batswana stuck in land queue as costs mount
Pini Bothoko | Wednesday August 12, 2026 06:00
The reality came after Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Dr Edwin Dikoloti, warned Parliament that government cannot afford to clear the country’s land allocation waiting list within the next three years. He was responding to a motion tabled by Bobirwa Member of Parliament, Taolo Lucas, who had called on government to commit to allocating plots to all those currently on waiting lists within three years.
Whilst acknowledging the importance of land ownership, Dikoloti said the proposal was neither practical nor achievable under the country’s current financial and administrative constraints.
“Land ownership is one of the greatest instruments for wealth creation, social security, and national pride. It provides dignity, promotes investment, and strengthens communities,” he said.
However, Dikoloti cautioned that residential plots were not simply pieces of vacant land that could be allocated immediately.
He educated Parliament that several statutory and technical processes had to be completed before land could be made available for settlement.
These include identifying suitable land, conducting environmental assessments where necessary, preparing and approving physical development and layout plans, acquiring land, and providing infrastructure.
Dikoloti said government also did not have sufficient funding under the current National Development Plan 12 (NDP12) to fulfil Lucas’ proposal.
“Where will the funding be coming from? Government would have to divert all limited resources away from health, education, agriculture, and social security programmes,” he said, arguing that the motion provided no financing framework for such a massive undertaking.
According to Dikoloti, Botswana’s population is estimated at 2.35 million, with approximately 1.5 million people eligible for land allocation.
He said the estimated cost of producing a plot through land services was about P240,000, including land acquisition and servicing costs.
The minister further revealed that full land servicing could cost between P150,000 and P180,000 per block, covering infrastructure such as stormwater drainage, sewer and water pipelines, telecommunications, street lighting, and electricity networks.
Dikoloti said servicing 770,000 plots alone would require a minimum of P11.6 billion, resources that government does not have available within the three years proposed by Lucas.
Under NDP12, the ministry has been allocated P165 million for land servicing, which, at the current rate, could yield approximately 66,000 plots.
A further P215 million has been allocated for land acquisition, enough to acquire about 6,000 hectares, translating to approximately 40,000 plots.
The figures, Dikoloti said, demonstrate the financial limitations confronting the land sector and why clearing the waiting list within three years would be unrealistic.
However, Lucas argued that the urgency of the housing and land crisis should compel government to explore alternative ways of accelerating allocations.
He said many citizens had remained on waiting lists for decades, forcing some to live in overcrowded extended-family homes or even rent houses in their own villages because they had failed to secure plots.
“If you have your own plot and have a house, you might not understand the pain they are going through. People, even those who are married, live in extended families with their in-laws and children.
“People are growing old under their parents’ roof and have lost dignity due to not having plots of their own,” the Bobirwa MP said.
Lucas argued that government could source additional funds to service land and strengthen sub-land boards so they could process and allocate plots more efficiently.
He also urged government to consider allocating unserviced plots, saying citizens could gradually develop them rather than remain without land altogether.
For now, however, Dikoloti’s response signals that thousands of Batswana will continue waiting for residential plots, with government insisting that any solution must be financially sustainable and technically achievable.
In the end, the motion was defeated with 11 MPs voting in favour, 25 voting against it, one abstaining, and three MPs failing to participate in the vote.