- Chobe, Ghanzi and Rolong land boards stand out
- BATLA president commends land boards nonetheless
SESUPO RANTSIMAKO
Out of the 12 main land boards countrywide, only three have successfully reached the government’s set annual target for 2022/23.
The Chobe, Ghanzi and Rolong land boards have not only reached their set targets but also exceeded it.
With a target of 5269 allocations to make, Chobe Land Board came out the best with a total allocation of 5465 plot allocations, which translates into 104 percent.
Tlokweng by far the worst
Sitting in second place is Ghanzi with 125 percent. The land board exceeded its target of 2528 by 620 allocations.
Rolong Land Board came third with 100.6 percent by set target of 1784 by 10 when it allocated 1794 plots.
By contrast, Tlokweng Land Board allocated 274 plots out of a target of 1051, by far the worst.
Addressing the media yesterday (Tuesday), the president of Botswana Association of Tribal Land Authorities (BATLA), Johane Chenjekwa, stated that although only three land boards reached their targets, the government should be commended because overall allocations exceeded half of the total set for the country.
Commendable
He disclosed that the country’s total set target for 2022/23 was 100,064 plots, the land boards allocated 54 610 plots.
“This is a commendable number, considering that the remaining 46 percent was outsourced to private surveyors and the surveying work is expected to be completed by the end of June this year with allocations expected to continue afterwards,” Chenjekwa said.
“If it was not due to the outsourcing of these services, the ministry would have reached the (national) set target of 100 000 plot allocation. However, we remain hopeful that we will reach this number in the current financial year.”
Manpower
The BATLA president also blamed the failure to reach the set target on lack of manpower at some land boards, involvement of several stakeholders in the land allocation process, and contestation of tenders for land surveying by some bidders.
“All these resulted in the delays and subsequently plot allocations,” he said. “This has affected our delivery timelines of the 100 000 plots. The plots will be ready in the first quarter of the financial year 2023/24.”