TRIBAL VICTIMS
Residents fight over allocation of land to Bazezuru
Moshupa Sub land board Secretary has dismissed claims that they prioritised and made special favours for the Bazezuru tribe when allocating residential plots in Magotlhwane village this past Sunday.
There has been an uproar in the village ever since land board published names of people to be interviewed with intentions of allocating them land. The published list had 84 names, who, in the event they are successful after interviews, will be allocated land. However, there was a section of the village that scrutinised the published names and noticed that the majority of names were Bazezeru and wondered why that was the case. The matter got heated, leading to the village leadership being informed and a meeting convened at the Kgotla. The aggrieved felt that the land board was being unfair. They said their land was being stolen and given to ‘outsiders’ referring to Bazezuru. Residents felt that ‘their land’ was being taken away from them. “We are not saying we do not want them, all we are asking is why are they being given land in such huge numbers, while natives are being overlooked, they should have picked a few and include our children as well.” The village is now divided, some argue that those complaining are being discriminatory because Bazezeru are also Batswana and entitled to land just like any other Motswana citizen.
When putting the matter to rest on Sunday at Magotlhwane Kgotla, Land Board Secretary Pilane Morokotso and team advised all those aggrieved to come to their offices so that they can be assisted accordingly. He challenged those complaining to produce evidence that they had applied to land board and were skipped or denied land in favour of the 84 names published. “We have not done anything wrong, those people applied just like everybody, if there is any of you who applied at the same time with them, from 2008 to 2010 kindly come see us or escalate your concerns to any other relevant office, we will explain without hiding anything,” Morokotso said. He told The Midweek Sun in an interview that they were not giving Bazezeru land through a special dispensation as some allege. “We did not act on some special orders. What people need to understand is that Bazezeru are communal by nature and mostly do their things in groups; it is possible that they applied at the same time and this is why they are being given land at the same time. “Land board has no time and business in searching and allocating people land based on their tribes, we look at the waiting list only,” he explained. On Sunday, out of the 84 that were invited for land allocation, only 63 turned up for interviews and from those, only 58 were allocated plots. “Two were deferred and three rejected. People get rejected if they were directly allocated land in the past. The law stipulates that a person should be given only one plot. “We will make arrangements to go back to Magotlhwane and allocate the remaining available plots,” Morokotso said.