Africa-Press – Botswana. The major causes of delays in processing requests for land ownership transfers and land use changes across Botswana’s 12 land boards have been attributed primarily to resource constraints, according to an official statement in Parliament.
Answering a question in Parliament from MP Taolo Lucas of Bobirwa, the acting Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Dr Edwin Dikoloti, revealed that the sub-land boards, which serve as key delivery structures, were severely understaffed.
“In most sub-land boards, there is only one person per cadre,” he explained.
He pointed out that these staffing shortages impacted on timely processing of applications, especially those related to transfers under old land allocations.
“This is because the spatial coordinates, which indicate the exact location of the plot, are often not defined in the customary land grant certificates. Coordinates are a prerequisite for producing land titles through the Land Information System,” said Dr Dikoloti.
To mitigate the delays in the short term, the minister announced that land boards have been instructed to establish land administration committees to expedite the processing of applications.
As a long tearm, the minister emphasised the need for increased resourcing and capacity building for the land boards. “With additional resources and capacity, we aim to reduce the current average turnaround time of 30 days for processing applications,” he noted.
Dr Dikoloti also informed Parliament that the number of transfer applications received across the 12 land boards since 30 October 2024, was 15 901, while 13 207 were processed as of 30 June 2025, leaving a balance of 2 694.
He further indicated that the number of applications for consent for change of land use received the same period was 1 991, and of these, 1 579 had been processed, leaving a balance of 412.
Bobirwa MP, Mr Lucas, had wanted to know the number of requests for transfer of land ownership and those of change of land use as of 30 October 2025, and also major causes of delay in processing such.
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