Govt embarks on ambitious land audit

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Friday December 3, 2010 00:00

 

The exercise, which is dubbed Land Administration, Procedure, Capacity and Systems (LADPROCAS) in Botswana, has already commenced a pilot project in places like Odi-Matebele and Ramotswa and will soon be spread to other villages throughout the country.

In an interview recently, Minister Nonofo Molefhi said the government will spend P55 million on the five-year project that will be completed in 2013.

Molefhi said that the objective was to have information on how many plots had been allocated for different uses such as residential, business, wells and dams. He said that plots allocated before the establishment of land boards should be certified via local authorities. 

'It has become evident that people go around looking for plots, resulting in them being allocated several plots across the country,' Molefhi said. 'We believe it is not in the interests of social justice for one individual, through government systems, to have multiple ownership of property, while other citizens have not had that opportunity.'

Once certification of plots is completed, the property can be used as security or collateral when seeking bank loans because one of the requirements is that the plots should be surveyed and have title deeds. When seeking a bank loan, people can simply furnish coordinates of their plot for the bank to punch the figures in the computer and determine where the property is and whether the owner qualifies for a loan.

But it is not good news all round because tax dodgers and evaders will be cornered. According to the minister, information on multiple houses in one household, for instance, will be shared with the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) and those who have not declared full details of their income, including revenue from rentals, will be dealt with.

Molefhi says in instances where the government revises rates, especially in towns and cities, satellite technology will be used to determine plot sizes and such information will also be shared with relevant authorities. 'From the sky, we will be able to know the dimensions without having to physically go to the plot for that purpose and to count the housing units,' he says. 'We will just tell you the size of your plot and the number of houses on it.' After the exercise, it will also be easier for security agencies to know which plots are used for what purposes and which areas need patrolling.

While it has been normal for people to acquire plots and leave them undeveloped for 10 years or more, Molefhi says the exercise will make easier for the government to identify which plots should be repossessed. Owners of dilapidated buildings (matlotla) that are common in rural areas and some towns such as Lobatse will be identified and given time to develop them, failing which the old structures will be demolished and put up for re-allocation, preferably to new owners. Even fallow ploughing fields and idle ranches will be repossessed without compensation.

The thrust of the exercise is that each and every piece of land in Botswana will be accounted for and a national database established and maintained. While the minister acknowledges that there have been calls for a national land audit, he believes that the outcry proceeded from perceptions based on unavailable information and hopes that the concerns will be addressed. There are reports that certain individuals, especially politicians, and foreign companies, mainly churches, own huge swathes of land that have been left undeveloped for decades.

The Lesetedi Commission that investigated allocation of land in Gaborone in 2004 unearthed loopholes in the system and one company owned more than 700 legally acquired plots, for instance. Minister Molefhi says some companies that were allocated huge tracts of land to develop in order to sell housing units to Batswana have not fulfilled that promise. One such company was allocated land under such terms in Block 6 in Gaborone.

While this ambitious exercise takes place, the government is considering leaving urban property development to private companies so that it may better concentrate on developing rural areas, Molefhi says. Even the mandate of the Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) will be reviewed to determine whether it should continue building houses for rental and resale or it should function as a regulator.

For Gaborone, the government is thinking about going vertical with high-rise residential flats of up to 15 storeys. Molefhi says those who want to purchase apartments will be allowed to do so because the time has come for Batswana to accept that an apartment can become a lifetime home. 'In developed countries, people stay in apartments in the city centre and businesses thrive,' he says. 'In the same building, you find apartments at the top and a mall downstairs. I was amazed during my recent visit to Singapore where we learned that about 50,000 people stay in a area equivalent to the distance between the Main Mall and Princess Marina Hospital.'