Land Tribunal President Boitumelo Kaisara has ruled that poverty is not hereditary. She said this when delivering a judgment in a case in which Shadreck Modisane had wanted the Kgalagadi Land Board to allocate him a borehole area in a place set aside for Remote Area Dwellers on grounds that he was as poor as his relatives who were allocated a borehole in the area.
In her judgment, Kaisara said that she was convinced that KLB had acted properly by referring the matter to the District Council for the purpose of assessing whether or not Modisane qualifies as a RAD and that it was not the duty of the KLB to conduct such an assessment.
She also said that “the issue of RAD status being inferred through consanguinity or other relation also falls off as assessment is conducted on individuals and indeed Modisane was assessed as an individual”.
Modisane had given several names of his relatives who were given sites to drill boreholes on and said that since they qualified he too qualifies as well.
Furthermore that at the time of consideration of Modisane’s application the policy was in place which she says makes KLB‘s rejection of his application based on advise they got from Council that he was not a RAD correct.
On the issue of delay on the part of the Land Board in considering Modisane’s application, Kaisara said that she faults KLB on the issue but that this passes for maladministration and does not assist Modisane’s case.
Kaisara said that the Land Board had in the matter used their discretion reasonably, taking into account relevant factors in arriving at the decision to reject Modisane’s application.
