The land question revisited

REVEREND RICHARD MOLEOFE | Thursday May 30, 2013 00:00

The debate between the two was based on the proposed new land policy that will see local people benefit from a suggested quota of 70 percent.  In my response to all the issues raised in the debate, I write with a degree of authority on the subject of land as I have spent 15 months at Mogoditshane Subordinate Land Board both as chairman and member.For some of us, the announcement by President Ian Khama at a Bokaa Kgotla meeting that his government was working on such a policy was a great step in the right direction in addressing land problems in the country particularly in the periphery of Gaborone.  Land has become an attractive investment particularly in Tlokweng and Mogoditshane and the turn of events in these two localities emphasises the fact that the starting point is fixing the land problem.

Land as a basis of all economic activity is crucial for all citizens to own as that is one's means of empowerment. Equity in land distribution is what the new policy is supposed to address.  The idea of preferential treatment for locals came to Parliament by Odirile Motlhale and was bitterly crushed. This was not a brand new idea as Mmoloki Raletobana had on many occasions brought the idea through to the Land Board and to his constituents.  His suggestion was that the old system of allocating field owner's children plots as part of adequate compensation should be re-visited.  As chairman I fully supported the Gabane-born MP and even refined the idea further.  In a case where someone's field is re-possessed by the Land Board, they should be entitled to claim 10 percent of the area of the land they are giving up.

When Raletobana was addressing Kgotla meetings, I always had to accompany him as the Subordinate Land Board chairman.  People in his constituency have unanimously expressed the same sentiments. This is a practice that had earlier been in place until it was abolished in 2004.  When this practice known as Mpeele Bana ceased, field owners were no longer willing to avail their land to the Land Board.  This reluctance has contributed immensely on the shortage of land in what I will call Greater Mogoditshane (the area of jurisdiction for Mogoditshane Subordinate Land Board).  The stand-off between the locals and the land authority continues and no one is winning because the fields are no longer used for agricultural production.  Out of fear of the unknown, the locals have resorted to selling these fields to moneyed individuals from other parts of the country.

Botswana is a homogenous society and this is evidenced by the facts of field ownership in the periphery of Gaborone.  Locals would normally prefer to sell to some person from another district because they are said to pay better money for the fields.  If one drives from Gaborone to Thamaga, you will see the evidence of these land transfers. The fields are now fenced with very expensive materials.  Therefore it is the new owners of these properties that will benefit from any form of quota in the new land policy.  Practically, a majority of fields that were previously owned by Gabane people are now in the hands of people from as far as Shorobe.  Field ownership has always defined the residency of an individual, this should not be changed so that the new field owners stand to benefit.  That should remain as the determining factor.  If locals continue to sell, they must understand that like Esau in the Bible (Genesis 25:21-26), they are also selling their birthright.

The reason why a lot of field owners in Greater Mogoditshane have decided to sell is because of the current compensation rates.  At the moment the rate stands at P8,000 per hectare and in the open market it stands at twice the price or more.  This is what is fuelling the exchanges.  One old woman expressed this; 'Go botlhoko go bona motho a bewa ploto mo tshimong ya gago a bo a e rekisa P100,000 a sa e tlhabolola mme wena o neetswe lemmenyanya o sokotse o rema tshimo (It is painful to see someone allocated a plot on your field and soon they sell it for P100,000 undeveloped when you only received meagre compensation for de-bushing).

These are the realities on the ground and I suppose the new policy will address these inadequacies.  The quota system will open up more land for plot allocations as field owners will be more than willing to part with their land. In the process the whole country will benefit because a majority of the 144,000 in Mogoditshane waiting list are largely from elsewhere in the country.  I am saying this from a position of authority as former chairman until 2012.This process is actually going to ease off tensions that have been simmering between the locals and their political representatives.  Both Raletobana and Patrick Masimolole have experienced endless problems in their constituencies regarding the question of land.  Raletobana has maintained the use of a more diplomatic route of engagement with the Land Board while Masimolole started with a more militant approach that went to an extent of calling for the abolishment of Kweneng Land Board.  He later toned down to a soft approach and neither one of these has helped.  The frustration of MPs and councillors will come to an end if Parliament adopts the quota system.  In the past, I have made efforts as the chairman to share my 10 percent perspective with the President. 

My ideas did not reach him because of his gatekeepers.  I particularly spoke to Thapelo Olopeng who is still to give me feedback a year later.  The other approach was through the President's private secretary, Duke Masilo and he was unable to make the meeting possible. Later on, Raletobana assured me that he would make the meeting possible and that was at a point where I was feeling  fatigued by my own persistence.  When the President was still at Botswana Defence Force, I was his advisor on religious and welfare matters.  I knew he would take my advice on the matter of land distribution because in our days at BDF, he always had an ear for my opinions.

In the past, Botsalo Ntuane has expressed his disdain for the quota system by asking if this will apply to the allocation of farms and ranches in places such as Kaka.He says if the quota system is put in place, we will be opening a Pandora's Box.  Yes!  Let us open the box and defuse the powder keg that is waiting to explode in our lifetime.  If Gabane people have long asked for the quota system through their MP, Mmoloki Raletobana, they have a right to be heard.  At long last, someone has listened.  The amount of land speculation going on around the capital happens because we are too afraid to check what is in Pandora's Box.

In addressing the concerns raised by Saleshando on the fact that the quota system is bound to fail, Mokalake was really disappointing with his answers.  He said he is not sure if this is going to work or not.  Saleshando was raising pertinent questions in the radio interview and I have done the best in this article to answer his concerns. This is not just another experiment with land, it is something that has been done before and it may just be fashioned differently. The scary part is the suggested 70 percent.  The 10 percent I have suggested is certainly workable.