Kweneng cemetery row enters last lap
Sharon Mathala | Thursday July 24, 2014 10:31
While the meeting was held behind closed doors with all parties sworn to secrecy, Mmegi was able to establish that discussions were adjourned to next Wednesday.
Sources who attended the meeting said the emotional meeting, the first between all parties since the dispute broke out, focused on the alleged deception of the previous Land Board. “Villagers wanted to know how a plot they believed belonged to the community and on which they had already buried two people, was later on allocated to Kgosiemang,” an insider said.
“They believe the problem to have been with the previous Land Board which allocated the plot when it was aware that it was a community area set aside for burials.”
This week’s meeting was the culmination of a series of events that villagers claim had resulted in them losing access to the cemetery plot where their former headman and another villager are buried.
The three parties had continually failed to meet over the years, with a December 2013 Magistrate Court ruling that ordered a meeting by February, elapsing unsuccessfully.
At a kgotla meeting last month, teary-eyed villagers poured their hearts out to President Ian Khama, informing him that their former cemetery in Masu-a-Ditshwene, was not only far from their ward, but was also close to being full. They also recounted how the plot’s new owner had since fenced it off and had plans to rear animals on the land.
During that meeting, Kweneng Land Board chair, Moemedi Babitseng, said the old Land Board was responsible for the situation, but pledged to address it promptly.
“We will resolve this matter amicably,” he said. This week, however, the Land Board declined to reveal progress in the latest discussions, issuing a curt statement.
“Kgosiemang and the Land Board met on Tuesday together with affected villagers but the proceedings of the matter are not open to the media and we will invite you when we have a resolution,” it said.