Mokalake told the House that the Land Board underwent a district profiling exercise of land occupation in all its sub-land board areas in 2010.In Gumare, they found out that Xanxana was illegally occupied. He pointed out that Tawana Land Board had established that Bogosi had neither allocated the farmers before coming into operation of land boards nor by the land board.Furthermore, he said the demolition was done in accordance with the Tribal Land Act (Cap 32:02) Section (39) sub section 1 (a). It states that any person who acquires or takes occupation of tribal land without the appropriate lease or a certificate issued by the land board concerned, shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of P10,000 and one year's imprisonment.
If the offender is a corporate body, it will be fined P20,000.Mokalake pointed out that the Tawana Land Board did not evict the illegal occupants from the area because of an immediate need to use the land, but to curb unlawful occupation of land and proliferation of illegal settlements.He said that if they turned a blind eye to the situation, it would put pressure on the environment and available resources. He, however, said that the call by the government's encouragement of farmers to stay at their ploughing lands does not give farmers the freedom to unlawfully occupy land.
