More about the Kgalagadi land scandal

In my letter to Mmegi, published on Friday 1st March, I said that I knew of at least 14 farms which had been unlawfully allocated in the Kgalagadi Communal Area.Today, having searched the documents available to me, I can confidently state that there are at least 20 such farms larger than 1,000 hectares in extent. (Mmegi has the list).

All these farms are located on land zoned for communal use.  In most instances, the land was already being used communally by ordinary Batswana.  As a result, those people who were using the land were deprived of their rights without any form of due process.  They were neither consulted nor given a hearing as required under common law, nor was the District Council consulted on the change from communal to commercial use as required under section 17 of the Tribal Land Act.