Letter to the Minister of Lands and Housing
| Friday December 16, 2011 00:00
The reason for this unfortunate and illegal episode was that Molefhe, former BDP councillor for Hebron ward, O.Ntlatseng, former BDP and BNF parliamentary candidate for Barolong constituency, Blom Lekoma, former BDP primary elections candidate for Barolong constituency, and a farmer, Mogwera Maseng, were against the allocation of land for arable purposes at Tshipane. Another reason was that villagers from Tswagare and Sekokoane wanted Land Board members to point out the boundary line between Tswagare/Sekokoane and Ditlharapa areas.Tshipane is part of Ditlharapa area under the headship of Kgosana Dikgatsu Molema, while Tswagare/Sekokoane area is under Kgosana Magashula of Tswagare.
Statistics show that Ditlharapa has more people than Tswagare/Sekokoane. Tswagare/Sekokoane has fewer people but more land than Ditlharapa. Now, the communities of Tswagare/Sekokoane want Tshipane to fall under Tswagare/Sekokoane. Is this fair?
The late Kgosi Besele II did a wonderful and scientific allocation of areas of administration to headmen in this region. Why disturb the balance? Land overseers from Tswagare/Sekokoane confirmed that all farmers at Tshipane applied for their lands via Ditlharapa land overseers and that they were allocated such lands from Ditlharapa Kgotla, including the three deprived ones.
The real reason for this unfortunate action by Rolong Land Board is political. It has very serious conflict of interests and settling of scores. None of the politicians' fuelling the matter has land rights at Tshipane. They were all allocated arable and grazing lands at Sekokoane, as well as cattle posts and boreholes, but they want to graze their livestock at Tshipane, causing a lot of damages to arable farms. Our outstanding master farmers, who used to feed Botswana, such as Taiboos Rabasotho, Loato Molema, Morule Brothers, Makgolo brothers, M. Modungwa, S. S. Molema and K. Z. Keshupilwe and others produced Botswana's food supplies from Tshipane, not the politicians in question.
Most of the farmers were persuaded to move their livestock from Tshipane to Gammangwato, Gangwaketse, Mokwena and Kgalagadi. Now our politicians are using the Land Board to occupy lands left for arable farming by those master farmers. Why should this be allowed at the expense of young, energetic and very promising farmers who used all their funds and terminal benefits to buy tractors, ploughs, trailers, planters, disc harrows and other agricultural equipment to farm and create employment for many unemployed youth in Barolong farms and the rest of Southern District? These young farmers spent a lot of money fencing and de-bushing lands legally allocated to them in 2010. Shall they be compensated? Presently there are dozens of applications for arable lands at Tshipane, which are available, from the youth of Ditlharapa, but the Land Board is holding them because the people of Tswagare/ Sekokwane and politicians do not want them to have lands/masimo at Tshipane, Why? That is the political aspect of the matter. As Land Boards are quasi-judicial bodies, do they have the power and authority to overturn their own previous decisions? They do not have and as such, Rolong Land Board must be dissolved under functus officio rule and the executive be disciplined.
Listening to the narration of Mogwera Maseng was very interesting. He said in 1956, he was allocated the same arable land given to Peter K Leburu in 2010. On the very same day that he was given the said land by bogosi, Letlhoo Lekoma and one Moepeng, Kopano Lekoma, according to him, were studying in Russia but they were also allocated land in absentia at Tshipane. Maseng added that Dr K. Z. Keshupilwe was also given land. The Rolong Land Board accepted his story and prevented us from asking him questions. The truth, however is that in 1956, Kopano Lekoma was a pupil at Montshiwa Memorial School in Mafhikeng, South Africa. Letlhoo Lekoma was working for NRC/Teba in Slurry near Mafhikeng and not yet settled in Botswana while K. Z. Keshupilwe was a practising medical doctor in Kimberley. The Letsapa Lekoma family still held 'certificate of occupation' for Tshipane farm granted by Kgosi Montshioa in 1894. Hence, only Letsapa Lekoma's successors could allocate land at Tshipane at that time, so Maseng, my own paternal uncle, was never granted any land at Tshipane in 1956 or thereafter. The Maseng family has ploughing land and a dam at Sekokwane under the name of Lekone Maseng, the late father to Mogwera Maseng.
Kopano Lekoma inherited lands at Tshipane, (not allocated) o ja boswa/inheritance, however it took him five years (from 1980 to 1985) to have such lands registered in his name because the Molefhe brothers objected to such inheritance being transferred to, and registered under, Kopano Lekoma by Rolong Land Board. They maintained that such lands (my inheritance) were their grazing area. There was also conflict of interest as the then board chairman was brother-in-law to the Molefhe brothers. It is now very interesting to note that even in the present dispute, Kgosi Lotlamoreng II is cited as opposing the allocation of arable lands at Tshipane to Ditlharapa farmers. Nna ke ntse kere kgosi ke ya Barolong botlhe eseng ya batho ba Tswagare/Sekokwane fela! Kopano Lekoma's appeal to the then Minister of Local Government, Michael Tshipinare, succeeded in 1985. The Rolong Land Board was informed by the minister that no land in Barolong farms was gazetted as either grazing or arable; that Barolong farms were a mixed farming area and that land at Tshipane must be treated as such. The decision was confirmed/upheld by The Land Tribunal in Gaborone in June 2009 in the presence of Kopano Lekoma, Paul Molefhe and secretary of Rolong Land Board. On this again, I feel very, very strongly that Rololong Land Board must be dissolved and action be taken against its executive. Last but not least, in December 2008, Rolong Land Board organised a stakeholders' workshop at Barolong Vocational Training Centre at Pitsane. Item eight of the agenda was gazettement of agricultural land in Rolong area. Tshipane was one of the areas highly recommended for arable farming because of its soil type and proven production records during the height of the 'bread basket'. Rolong Land Board, instead of serving Batswana, is transforming itself into an agent of the demise of Botswana's bread basket.
The community of Ditlharapa, when establishing a drift fence decided to allocate arable agriculture on the side of Tshipane and on the advice of Ministry of Agriculture.The Minister and the Ombudsman are requested to act very quickly to restore the affected lands to the allocatees and consider asking the (incoming) board to workout their compensations.