Africa-Press – Botswana. The Tribal Land Act of 2018 was re-enacted as one of the major reforms in the administration and management of tribal land in Botswana.
Director of policy development and research in the Ministry of Land and Water Affairs, Mr Gopolang Mogotsi, said this during a consultative workshop with Gamalete tribal leaders Friday.
Oganised by Malete Land Board, the workshop was aimed at sensitising bogosi on the re-enacted Tribal Land Act of 2018 and other issues affecting land board operations.
In his presentation, Mr Mogotsi provided a detailed explanation of the historical background of land registration in Botswana.
He also shared notes on other legislative changes affecting land delivery process such as Transfer Duty Act of 2020, Trust Property Control Act of 2018 and the Electronic Communications and Transaction Act of 2017 among others.Mr Mogotsi said the 2018 act repealed the Tribal Land Act of 1968, which came into force in 1970.“The 1968 Act provided for the establishment of tribal land boards, vested tribal land in such boards, defined the powers and duties of such boards and also provided matters incidental to the powers and duties of the board.
Despite minor amendments made to the Act over the years, the ministry continues to experience a number of challenges in the management of land,” he said.
Challenges, he said, included unsurveyed and unplanned allocations, unregistered customary land grant and poor records management.
To address the challenges, Parliament passed the National Land Policy of 2015, which provided for, among other things, the amendment of laws to enable registration of customary land grants, survey of all land in the country, declaration of the whole country as a planning area and development of a Land Information System.
For her part, Kgosi Mosadi of Balete said as representatives of the tribe, they wanted developments but it was key for government to have consulted morafe before the implementation of the act.
She said presenting the act to the public would enable them to ask questions and also appreciate what had been discussed about the act.
Kgosi Pogiso Botlhole of Taung said some provisions of the act needed to be reviewed to benefit Batswana such as the transfer of duty.He said if the current arrangement was not reviewed, land would always belong to foreigners who had cash power.
Kgosi Lepetu Moatlhodi of Mogobane said he was impressed by the level of commitment on the part of government in engaging magosi on the matter.
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