It would, indeed, be idle to suggest that Lands and Housing Minister, Nonofo Molefhi, is not doing anything about this property ownership problem but one is not so sure about the commitment of his colleagues.
You see, the gleeful revel in the theatrics of pique on the Parliamentary floor in 2010 was certainly a source for mild bemusement.
If you ever needed a good example of outlandish behavior from both sides, especially after the State of the Nation Address, that was it. Personal petulance, melodrama and self-absorption were held on a far higher pedestal than the common good.
Surely the energy could have been better expended on crucial matters such as ensuring that Batswana are able to acquire property at the right prices? But, I digress. The other day, a young bloke, the professional type, remarked that it would have served him well to be destitute. The chap then went on to put it as follows: He is finding it impossible to buy a house because prices are bordering on extortion.
Therefore, if he were to be classified a destitute there would be a better chance of having a house built for him. I then said to him that while building houses for destitute people might be seen as palliative rather than curative, it is still a necessary exercise. His response? Fair enough but there must be meaningful state intervention to encourage property ownership prospects because potential first time buyers have just about thrown in the towel. This issue about being a destitute may have been said in jest but it illustrates a serious problem for many Batswana, especially the young, who would like to own a house at an early age so that they can pay it off while they still can.
Over the last few years or so, the frustration amongst young folk of being unable to buy a house even when they qualify for it has been all too apparent. Sellers add another amount onto the market price which puts the house beyond the reach of many. We are thus watching sellers blagging off buyers for a lot more money than the market has set.
We, however, gather that Government is unable to intervene because this is a “free market economy” when it is a fact that an economy in this purest form has never existed anywhere in the world. So, Governments do step in. The situation is compounded by the fact that mortgage lenders do not finance property at its full market value in order to protect themselves against the risk of the property being sold at a loss.
There are also legal and other fees as well as the applicable tax to be paid in order to facilitate the transaction. If there is a go between, then a buyer is well and truly finished as, in most cases, he or she unwittingly covers the agent’s commission. Therefore, in this period of prohibitively expensive property prices, when so many first time buyers are shut out from the housing market, when we are regularly being told that there is shortage of land for building on, it is time that property acquisition by citizens and even land reform became a matter for urgent political concern.
Even the Government we hear is unable to acquire a religious farm, if we can call it that, to the south of the Capital because the owner wants a lot of money for it.
What we have not been told however is whether it is the market value which is too high or whether the owner has pegged the price way above what the market advises. One therefore does not for a minute agree with the view that Government cannot stop sellers from disposing property at the prices above the market value. Such conduct should be brought under control.
Sellers must dispose of their houses at market rates otherwise they should keep them. Even undeveloped ranches in areas such as the Western Sandveld are now being sold for up to P4 million in line with the revised CEDA limit when their values should not be no more than P1 million. Happy times are surely here! Adam Smith in a concise summation of the balance of 18th century economic power said that “We have no acts of Parliament against combining to lower the price of work but many against combining to raise it”.
Might we then say the same about property prices in Botswana and the lack of interest by Parliament to control them because legislators themselves would also like to sell under similar circumstances?
Perhaps it is the inertia by this democratic institution to advance the economic interests of Batswana strongly which gives the aspiring Marxist head of state Themba Joina his relentless ideological assault on capitalism. The Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto has argued in The Mystery of Capital that a country cannot be considered truly free and democratic until most of the population owns a stake in the land. Currently, what we have is a feudal system where large tracts of land are owned by absentee landlords, which makes it difficult for Batswana to have houses of their own. Speaking on a similar situation in Britain, Kevin Cahill in Who owns Britain, states that “It is a myth in this country that land is scarce for it is not… The problem is that there is simply not enough land coming on to the market for housing which puts fierce pressure on the title land that is available, and this dramatically inflates its price”.
We have a similar situation in the former Protectorate. It remains an issue for great curiosity that while authorities can relocate ordinary Batswana to make way for developments, they become enfeebled when they have to face absentee landlords resulting in a perpetually aggrieved population which desperately needs land and at market determined rates.
It thus seems to me that, if anything, what we have is a leadership which at best, much like an artist has a vision when what we really need are managers with a business plan to problems such as the one on property ownership. Many Batswana today prefer to live in institutional or rented houses practically all their lives despite earning more than their parents did in real terms because property prices are inflated, including those being sold by a certain institution.
The reduction of rates by the central bank is meaningless to the “Renting Class”, whose number continues to grow, because property acquisition is just out of its reach. The question for young Batswana like my mate as we start 2011 perhaps is: “What are the redeeming features of the country’s leadership if cannot at least help them own houses or small pieces of land on which to build?”
One does not think that they are keen on a Parliament that is long on words, some of them quite cranky as we came to see in 2010, but short on meaningful action.
