Ngwato tribal leaders call for task force to collect land arrears
Onalenna Kelebeile | Wednesday August 20, 2014 11:26
The land board is currently owed P40 million in lease rentals. This has compelled the land board to join forces with Botswana Post and Standard Chartered Bank to facilitate defaulters’ payments.
The tribal leaders have expressed fear that the arrears will increase if immediate action is not taken.
Kgosi Phokontsi Seeletso pointed out that the lease rental for a poultry farm has been hiked from P50 per annum to P500, yet most of the farms have collapsed due to poor business.
He suggested that the farms be assessed to figure out if the owners can afford to pay. If they cannot, the farms should be repossessed and allocated to those who can run them. The magosi concurred that squatters are a cause of concern in the Central District. They suggested that land boards be accorded powers to evict squatters even without a court order. They cited the case of squatters who were discovered around Mmadinare in 1991 but are yet to be evicted.
In response, Ngwato Land Board chairman, David Modisagape said traditional leaders must check all necessary documents to ascertain that people are legally allocated a plot before they can set up permanent structures.
He pointed out that cabinet revises lease rentals while land boards are merely implementers. He urged defaulters to approach his office to negotiate payment plans. He expressed concern over the low turnout for land registration.
He explained that the exercise is not meant to expose those who are the rightful plot owners but to help facilitate systematic land registration in the Central District. Modisagape said Tribal Administration is an integral part of service delivery because magosi administered land before land boards were established and were custodians of wards and village boundaries.