Dikgosi: no business allocating land
38 suspended from Mogoditshane Land board over suspected irregularities
Chairperson of the Kweneng Land board, Kgang Kgang, has sternly warned dikgosi against allocating land in their areas.
Speaking during a meeting with dikgosi in Mogoditshane recently, Kgang said land allocation is a role that is solely assigned to the Land board, which is vested with legal powers to decide on land allocations, and dikgosi have no business whatsoever meddling in issues of land signing-offs in their areas.
“The Land board has been legally mandated to oversee all the processes of land allocation. Dikgosi have no say in land allocation processes, particularly without the involvement of the Land board.
“The involvement of dikgosi is categorised an unauthorised land signing-off because allocating land is not their jurisdiction”, Kgang warned.
Kgang noted that while in the past it was common practice for dikgosi
to allocate land in their communities this has changed as land allocation powers have now been bestowed to the Land boards in accordance with the Land board Act.
Kgang said that issues of land allocation irregularities in the Kweneng region, particularly the Mogoditshane Sub-Land board were a cause of concern. He indicated that there is a backlog of 114 000 applications that are still pending processing, adding that cases of irregularities had a hand in stalling the allocation process.
He also noted that 38 employees from the Mogoditshane Sub-Land board are currently on suspension pending investigations into suspected irregularities relating to land allocation in the region.
However, some disgruntled community leaders at the meeting were adamant that dikgosi are mere scapegoats. An irate insider who spoke on condition of anonymity told this publication that dikgosi are being falsely blamed.
“How can dikgosi be accused of allocating land when they have limited legal powers to do so? When you look at Mogoditshane for example, in the past few years, scores of people have been moved from their residential homes to make way for “developments” such as shopping complexes, filling stations and car dealerships.
“The Land board officials should be the ones to answer for the rot. Foreigners are given land under dubious processes meanwhile us Batswana are taken back and forth because we don’t knock on Land board doors carrying suitcases filled with cash, instead we Batswana wait until we get grey hair”.
Another source said that it is unfair how the revised Land board Act limits the powers of dikgosi. “The rightful owners of our land should be native Batswana, and community leaders should be at the forefront of ensuring that they are allocated land.
“Instead of disempowering dikgosi where issues of land are concerned, Government should come up with an Act that accords dikgosi vested powers to allocate land in their areas, while the Land board oversees the process, and ensures that it is carried out efficiently.
“In that case, the role of the Land board would be documentation and management”. The source further noted that most dikgosi remain in conflict with their diminishing powers over land administration.
“We must remember that some of the expropriated land is land which was considered ancestral land. For us Africans, land isn’t just for development but also has historical, cultural and spiritual symbolism, that is why the involvement of traditional authorities in matters of land administration is important”.
Land Boards were introduced throughout the nation after Botswana enacted the Tribal Land Act in 1968. Since then, the powers of dikgosi over land allocation have been slowly diminished.
Efforts to get an official comment from Ntlo ya Dikgosi failed at press time.