Africa-Press – Botswana. Residents of Sanyedi ward in Maun North constituency have expressed concern about lack of consultation over the relocation exercise to pave way for expansion of Maun Central Business District (CBD) infrastructure service project.
They said they heard that an area had been identified for relocation of those who would be affected by the expansion, yet they had not been informed when the exercise would commence.
Residents aired their concerns during a kgotla meeting addressed by the area MP, Mr Dumelang Saleshando on Tuesday saying the fact that they were not aware of who would be affected by the move, brought anxiety.
Kgosi Molefabangwe Setlhare of Sanyedi said they were worried about inadequate consultation with the community to appreciate what was happening about relocation exercise.
In addition, he said some had learnt that a groundbreaking ceremony had been performed at the newly identified area for relocation, but as the affected parties, they were not invited to be part of the event.
“This is not right and people should understand that consultation is very important as it promotes trust, and when people are part of decision making processes, they are likely embrace change and I call on relevant authorities to do the right thing,” he added.
One of the residents, Ms Lesego Rabasha concurred that they were in the dark with regard to the relocation exercise saying, ‘Our hands are tied because we do not know whether we can carry on with developments or we will be wasting our resources’.
The project was to be implemented by the then Ministry of Land, Management, Water and Sanitation in the 2019,20 financial year.
It was reported then that over 300 properties, both commercial and residential would be affected by the CBD project and that out of the total, 17 plots would have to pave way for the project.
On other issues, residents complained about poor service delivery from Tawana Land Board, with some saying they had long applied for plots, plot transfers, new land certificates, among other things.
They said the land board took time to process their requests.
Responding to residents’ concerns, Maun Sub-Land Board chairperson, Mr Ogaufi Monamisi said not all would be affected by the expansion of CBD, noting that those to be affected had been consulted.
The exercise, he said was done by various stakeholders citing that areas that would be affected included Sanyedi, Matomo, Mabudutsa and Riverside.
Residents from Sanyedi, he said would be relocated to Botshabelo where land servicing was ongoing.
About poor service by land board, Mr Monamisi said they experienced the delay because their area of coverage was vast, but highlighted that efforts were ongoing to address the application backlog and all land management issues.
Currently, he said the waiting list stood at 45 000 applications of which 26 960 were for residential plots in Maun while 14 195 were for ploughing fields.
He said they managed to complete 300 transfers in April, noting that by end of May, they would have completed 600 transfer requests.
Mr Monamisi told residents that registration of matlotla did not start at land board but the process should start at home as family members must agree who should inherit the property, then approach kgosi for verification and validation before submitting the request to the land board.
“As land board, we require evidence to register matlotla, but at times we experience delay in registration because of lack of evidence,” he added.
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