Moupo condemns housing for sale policy

Botswana National Front (BNF) leader Otsweletse Moupo has condemned the Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) for building houses only for sale. He said in Parliament that BHC has totally lost direction from its initial role of providing rental houses for the people. He urged the BHC to provide rental accommodation to thousands of people in Gaborone and Francistown who live in one-roomed houses.

He added that many Batswana cannot afford to buy houses and the government should revisit its position on housing. He complained that the number of houses that BHC builds annually (around 700) is too low and should go up four times.  The MP said that some of the recently built houses in Block 7 Mogoditshane are vacant perhaps because many people cannot afford to buy them.  He stressed that there should be houses that newly employed people can afford to rent.

He said that BHC should adopt cheaper ways of building houses  to increase the number of housing units it constructs every year.  He said that if there is political will to provide housing to the people looking at the wealth Botswana has, there would be no shortage of accommodation. Moupo felt that construction of more houses can reduce unemployment since contractors would buy building materials from local retailers.  The MP warned that sale of land to every person irrespective of where they come from is risky. He said that foreigners should not buy land but should lease it if they want to do business in the country.

Editor's Comment
Bravo police for prompt action

It is also hurting that whilst we all know that the Botswana Police Service (BPS) is charged functionally with the duties to investigate all forms of crime, some locals have resorted to taking the law into their own hands. It is very wrong to do that. There is also a possibility that one may wrongfully take the life of a person in the process, unless it is a justifiable case of self-defence. Recently, in the city of Francistown, some locals found...

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