Knives are out for Kgatleng Landboard as Bakgatla have resolved to petition them, demanding that the Minister of lands dissolve the main and sub landboards as they are not serving the interests of the tribe.
A kgotla meeting addressed by Bakgatla Deputy Kgosi Bana Sekai on Thursday in Mochudi appointed a task force that will coordinate the petition to be handed to Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Dr Micus Chimbombi. They will petition Kgatleng main land board, Oodi and Mmathubudukwane sub land boards respectively.
Addressing Bakgatla, Kgosi Sekai said Kgatleng Land Board and the sub land boards of Oodi and Mmathubudukwane are causing lot of pain to Bakgatla as they oppresss them over their land. He said his decision to name and shame the land boards emanates from bad behaviour of some board members and employees, adding that government should transfer some of the arrogant employees. According to him, lot of Bakgatla throng his office to raise complaints about their land being grabbed without proper procedure by the land boards. To add salt to injury, Kgosi Sekai said some of Bakgatla whose’ land was repossed in formal procedure with the hope of reciving compensation from the land board are yet to be compensated.
He said he has written letters to the board and have not been responded, a development which he said indicates that the land board officials are not willing to cooperate with the tribal leadership in Kgatleng.
“I am sick and tired of the rot that is happening in our land boards. Our people are not getting any help from the main land board and its sub land boards. I engaged the previous minister of lands about the whole situation of corruption or arrogance but nothing has happened to this date. We are tired,” he said.
Furthermore, Kgosi Sekai said by virtue of his position (Kgatleng tribal leader) he is an ex officio member of the main Kgatleng Land Board with that meaning that he must attend board meetings when board sit.
However, he said this is not the case because he has been not invited to the board meetings, a move which he said wont tolerate under the new Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) administration.
“There has been too much political interference by the past administration on our land boards decisions. This has to stop now. These land boards are supposed to serve us and not politicians,” Kgosi Sekai stated. Meanwhile, Kgatleng Land Board Chairperson Mothusi Molefi on the sidelines of the kgotla meeting said they have noted the concerns raised by Bakgatla and their tribal leadership regarding the land boards.
He briefly said he will engage on the issues further, adding that Bakgatla has every right to petition the Kgatleng Land Board and the sub land boards that they are not happy about and will work on addressing the shortcomings.
On Thursday, minister Dr Chimbombi while answering a question in Parliament said the appointment of the current members of the Land Boards followed a due process of the law. Therefore, Dr Chimbombi said the dissolution of the membership of the members of the Land Board must be in accordance with the law, adding that at the moment I have not found any legal reasons to dissolve their membership.
MP for Shashe West, Jeremiah Frenzel had asked the minister if he is aware that majority of people appointed board members who had lost primary elections in the former ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) administration. He also asked if there any measures in place to dissolve current membership of land board members across the country.
Audit
Furthermore, Kgosi Sekai said he will push for the ministry of lands to release and furnish Bakgatla with a land forensic report that was conducted at Oodi sub land board.
He said the report was instituted after he approached the Office of the President (OP) in 2022 to establish the level of corruption by the sub land board with regards to land dealings in Kgatleng. Kgosi Sekai said the equipment such as computers of some employees were confiscated to assit in in investigations and his hope is that those computers are still under custody of corruption bursting agency, Directorate On crime and Economic Corruption (DCEC).
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