Land applicants exceed Botswana�s population

Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday June 8, 2015 14:06

“We are concerned about the waiting list. The number of people who have applied for land exceeds Botswana’s population,”said the accounting officer for Lands and Housing, Thatayaone Raphaka, in an answer to a question from MP for Selibe Phikwe West Dithapelo Keorapetse, at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) session last week.

“This is so because same people apply for plots in each land board.Our challenge is that we do not have proper records about individual’s ownership of land. We believe that Land Administration, Procedures and Systems (LAPCAS) would help us to address the situation,” he added.

Raphaka said some people do not apply for plots because of the real need to build homes, but rather to sell. “People sell land because of economic challenges and Land Board had never thought people would be involved in selling land the way we see it now days.”

Although Raphaka admitted that some of his officers are involved in corruption practices regarding land allocation, he revealed that some of the cases have been dealt with at the courts of law.

He said what worries them most is that there are Batswana who are pretending to be land officers and sell people’s plots unlawfully.“Corruption of land is high because we have some Batswana who claim to be land officers. They have a tendency of swindling people by selling them plots that they know are not theirs,” he said. He added that LAPCAS would help them to know if indeed some people were allocated land properly because minutes of that land allocation would show. Raphaka said this would help them to repossess some plots that were acquired fraudulently.  

He also assured the PAC that there is no secrecy in state land.