Jwaneng/Mabutsane in land skirmishes

Lebogang Baingapi | Wednesday February 1, 2017 17:56

In one such case, residents of Thankane village are fighting tooth and nail to block Maokane Sub-Land Board from allocating farms in their area.

Thankane, which is situated between farms, has no land to grow. To make matters worse, most of the farms do not belong to the residents, neither to those nearby villages of Mokhomma and Samane. Late last year, they asked Ntlhaile to intervene on the matter.

To add salt to injury, a piece of land called Tsha-tsha-tsha, which is the only hope for Thankane expansion, has also been turned into farms and the residents want the Government to reverse the decision.

It is also alleged that some residents are denied inheritance of their forefather’s farms, which are later claimed by outsiders. The matter seems to have been through all Government channels but the residents seem not to be winning.

“We are in between the farms and the Land Board does not see it necessary to consult us before allocating those farms to outsiders.

There is a 2km by 2km farm here in our village and we are fighting to get it back because the owner claim that it was allocated to him in 1958 which is unbelievable,” said a resident of Samane, France Mogotsakgotla, in one of the MP’s meetings.

In Morwamosu village, they are waiting for Government to reverse a Presidential Directive that gave the Land Board powers to change land from conservation to farm ranches, after they were relocated to pave way for conservation purposes. They say they were not consulted.

Residents around Morwamuso and Kokong wrote a petition to President Ian Khama and the matter was referred to the Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services, Prince Maele.

The said land, which is known as SO2 is between Mabutsane before Kokong turn. The residents are eagerly waiting for a response from the minister.

Legislator Ntlhaile acknowledged in a press briefing here on Friday that his constituency is marred with pending land issues, which needs immediate attention.

He said his office is doing all its best to engage the government on the issue of SO2 because currently it has been turned into farms and the local residents were not benefiting.

Ntlhaile said consultation is key in such issues, which has the potential to cause war in a country. He is of the view that people from those areas are mostly disadvantages groups and the government should rather react to the situation, least those with money take advantage of the poor.