Land crisis continues to haunt Batlokwa
Pini Bothoko | Friday March 17, 2017 16:58
This was revealed yesterday when the Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services Prince Maele addressed Batlokwa at Tlokweng main Kgotla.
However the issue of land allocation for Batlokwa is a special case as they are allocated land on the quota of 60:40 in which Batlokwa are given 60% of the plots while other tribes are given 40%.
These occur because Tlokweng, just like other villages located near cities, is regarded as a peri-urban area.
The purpose of the meeting was to address land and water issues in the area.
Maele stated that by next week if things go according to their plan, 600 residential plots would be allocated to the people on the waiting list.
“Amongst the 600 residential plots, 360 of the plots will be allocated to Batlokwa and the remaining 240 will be allocated to other tribes including Batlokwa,” Maele said. He explained that only individuals without residential plots and have never been allocated a plot before would be given first priority.
Maele said that he knows that despite the quota of 60:40 agreed by Parliament, some Batlokwa are still not happy that other tribes are given a large number of plots in their village.
“I want to tell you that this is what was agreed to at Parliament. I cannot go beyond this ratio. I know and understand that your village is faced with a huge land crisis, but I am currently addressing your village land issues with the village leadership and hopeful that at the end it will be resolved,” Maele said.
He explained that together with the Tlokweng village leadership, they have resolved to hold a meeting on March 30 to further address the land issues.
“I have been reliably informed that there are three farms located in the outskirts of the village, which currently both the village Bogosi and Tlokweng Land Board claim ownership. There is confusion as to who exactly owns these farms. If it was possible, we could be allocating residential plots on these plots, but we cannot do so because it is disputed land,” Maele said.
He said that there was a need for proper ownership documents of the concerned farms to be provided so that the dispute could be resolved.
“We are not supposed to fight the Alien war that never ends. As Batswana, we should talk things out and resolve the matter for the sake of continuity,” Maele said.
He cautioned the Batlokwa to wisely use the little piece of land they currently occupy so that their children could benefit.
“I am worried that some Batlokwa ,despite complaining about land shortage, when allocated plots they sell them. Some people have sold their residential plots to other people. We do not condone this because our wish is for all Batswana to own residential plots,” Maele said.
Maele warned Batlokwa to desist from such behaviour because at the end one person will buy all plots and end up owning Tlokweng.
“What worries me the most is that you have the tendency of selling plots to the people that we cannot pronounce their names. If it was Batswana buying those plots it could be better even though we do not encourage the selling of plots,” Maele said. He said last year 387 residential, 252 agricultural, five commercial plots and one industrial plot were sold, a thing that worries them as the Ministry.
Maele warned Batlokwa against the land speculators who their motive is to apply for residential plots and sell them afterwards. “My Ministry introduced land policy recently to address those land speculators. At the moment, we only allocate plots to those who completely do not own a plot and we do not allow people to change their land ownership without a plot elsewhere,” Maele said.
Meanwhile, residents reiterated their worry that they bought most part of their land, but today they are being forced to share it with other tribes at a 60:40% ratio.