Africa-Press – Botswana. Kweneng Land Board is racing against time to conclude hearings involving people whose land rights will be affected in the ongoing land fracas at Mogoditshane Sub-land Board.
Addressing the media recently, Kweneng Land Board chairperson, Mr Kgang Kgang, said they had taken a stance to scrape off the compensation in-kind model that was previously adopted by Mogoditshane Sub-land Board terming the whole process illegal as it was not in accordance with provisions of the new Tribal Land Act.
“We are intending to conclude all the hearings by May or latest June this year since we are halfway through the process,” Mr Kgang said.
He also informed the media that the land board would be entitled to cancel sub-divisions or any allocation of land acquired fraudulently.
He added that during consultations made by the land board in most villages in the vicinity of Gaborone, residents had advised that ploughing fields which were taken fraudulently must be returned to the land board.
While that was the case, Mr Kgang said about 38 employees in the Ministry of Lands and Water Affairs were implicated in the land fiasco and they had acquired about 800 plots fraudulently.
“Some of them, their cases were before the courts while some have pleaded to return the land,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Kgang told the media about yet another trend of illegal certificates at Mogoditshane Sub-land Board.
He said they had discovered that some people, out of ignorance, were tricked by conmen into issuing them with fake certificates in exchange of their hard earned cash and in the process flouted existing processes for one to acquire a plot.
“About 600 fake certificates are in the custody of Botswana police while we continue to receive fake certificates on a daily basis,” he added and therefore cautioned the public to be vigilant and courteous when dealing with processes involving land acquisition.
For his part, the land board attorney, Mr Jeffrey Serebolo, said in the wake of the ongoing cases brought about by the purported compensation in-kind model, the land board should not take its decisions with fear of litigation.
“And on the same breadth, the aggrieved have the right to appeal decisions of the land board if they are so aggrieved,” Mr Serebolo added.
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