Kweneng Clears Land Policy Confusion

Pini Bothoko | Monday May 10, 2021 17:53

Contrary to the land policy amended by Parliament in 2019 to allow for those who acquired land through their own means or inheritance the right to apply for land allocation, the new policy recently shared still reflects that it prohibits such individuals allocation of residential plots. This brought about confusion amongst Batswana.

Quizzed over the recent Facebook post that somewhat turns a blind eye on the amendment of the Tribal Land Act by Parliament, Kweneng Land Board’s principal public relations officer, Prudence Lekhutlile said though they have shared the policy on their Facebook page that holds policies from the old Act, they do use the amended Act when allocating plots.

 “Yes, the policy still prohibits people who own residential plots either through inheritance or purchasing from being allocated residential plots because it has not yet been amended,” Lekhutlile said. “But, since a decision was taken at Parliament allowing people who have through their own means or inheritance acquired plots to be entitled to apply for plots and be allocated one, we would therefore take that amendment into consideration when allocating plots.” Lekhutlile assured Batswana that despite having un-amended policies this should not bother people because they would be using the new Act that was passed by Parliament when allocating plots. The Land Policy was amended in order to do away with a clause that prevented a person from being allocated land if their spouse had already been allocated a plot. This clause mostly disadvantaged women, as by virtue of one’s marital status the previous law would strip them of the right to be allocated a residential plot if their spouse already owned one.

The government has also moved to abolish transfer duty in case of divorce when property moved from one spouse to another. In February when addressing Parliament over the amendment of the policy the Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services, Kefentse Mzwinila said individuals should not be denied a plot on the basis of having obtained a lot through inheritance or purchase.

The amendment of the policy, he said, indicated that “every Motswana is entitled to the same treatment and consideration from government, the criteria for plot allocation is citizenship and not their socio-economic status” and based on the above all Batswana must be treated equally and be entitled to their free plot.  “The denial of a residential plot was tantamount to trampling on the rights of citizens as allocation of a plot is a means to the provision of a shelter, which is a basic human need and guidance has been given to the land authorities on the issue of equality in land allocation,” Mzwinila said then.