Mokalake attacks colleagues

ISAIAH MOREWAGAE
Staff Writer | Thursday November 25, 2010 00:00

 

First in his gun-sights was Lands and Housing Minister Nonofo Molefhi whose ministry's lands policies he said were a source of frastration for many Batswana.

The Minster of Local Government, Lebonaamang Mokalake spent the best part of his response yesterday to President Ian Khama's State of the Nation Address castigating his own government's policies.

First in his gun-sights was the Minister of Lands and Housing, Nonofo Molefhi. Mokalake complained that the current land policies are not benefiting Batswana.

He said the people are not given land where they prefer. He said in some situations, Batswana want to use their residential areas for other purposes like gardening or keeping livestock but the law does not allow them. He called on Molefhi's ministry to allow Batswana to choose what they want instead of imposing things on them.

Sometimes people will want just to plough a little in their backyard but since they are not allowed to do that, they are forced to seek big chunks of land,' Mokalake said.

He stressed that the government is always complaining about shortage of land, hence the minister should look into formulating a policy where an individual will be allocated a piece of land, which can be used for multi-purposes.

'The minister can look into coming up with a policy where an individual will be allocated a piece of land for residential purposes, keeping livestock and also for ploughing purposes,' he said. He lambasted the current arrangement for acquiring farms. He told Parliament that currently, one is required to attach a bank statement as an application requirement to acquire a farm. 'These requirements are outdated, which gives ordinary Batswana an impression that farms are reserved for the rich,' Mokalake stated.

He complained of the waiting period for one to be allocated a piece of land. He said the waiting period is sometimes 10 years. He called for transparency in the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources saying that it should update Parliament on the projects it has undertaken. Mokalake was at a loss as to what happened to the gas exploration that was undertaken sometime back at Kodibeleng and Mmashoro. He did not speak kindly about the Livestock Management and Infrastructure Development (LIMID) under the Ministry of Agriculture. He said under the programme, applicants have to look for livestock valued at P500 or less. He was concerned that the arrangement means that an applicant cannot negotiate the price for perfect livestock in case the seller demands P150 or P200 higher than that of LIMID. He said the programme is basically telling the farmers the price to sell their livestock.

He suggested that applicants should be given cash, compared to identifying potential sellers, and buying from anyone with livestock.

'If they are given money, they can choose where to buy and how many livestock they can afford with the cash they have,' Mokalake said.