As we witness our fellow Batswana being chased from the only land they can lay a claim to, we need to introspect and ask ourselves where should they go? And what does it mean to be a Motswana? We all know that the Land Boards and the local authorities in our towns and big villages have not made land accessible to Batswana in years. Yet everyday a young Motswana turns 18, some young couple gets married, this is to say access to land is a daily issue, and the need for affordable housing increases daily. As long as land is not availed to people we will always get squatters.
People don’t squat because they like lawlessness. These people have been waiting for land for years, some more than 2 decades. What does the government expect people to do? The argument that every Motswana has a right to land anywhere in Botswana and that if a Mokgatla can’t find a plot in Kgatleng he should relocate to Charleshill is not only stupid but is downright insulting. People need land where their livelihoods are.
It seems like nobody really cares about Batswana getting land to construct their own houses. Access to land is a privilege of the moneyed few, while the ordinary Motswana is expected to pay excessive rent in poorly constructed houses with no chance whatsoever of ever owning a piece of land to call their own. We continue to see plots in such places as Morwa, Tlokweng, Bokaa etc being sold for up to P80 000. Who has access to such kind of money? Is it not a few elites and their foreign business partners? What do we expect of natives of those places who work menial jobs that pay minimum wages? Don’t they have the right to land?
We have learnt with utmost trepidation that Botswana Housing Corporation has been allocated large chunks of land in Kgatleng and Mahalapye to construct houses for sale while people from those areas have been waiting for ages to get a small piece of land to build their own homes. We all know who buys those BHC houses, the moneyed few and their foreign business partners. Where does this leave the ordinary Motswana who will be working in those houses as a security guard or house maid?
We all know that BHC houses are unaffordable to 99 percent of Batswana. Even my wife who is in Government D3 scale cannot afford the cheapest BHC house! She can only qualify for a P600 000 mortgage paid over 30 years! Where does that leave the 99 percent of workers who earn less than P15 000 a month? I am talking about the 90 percent of the soldiers, 99 percent of teachers, 99.9 percent percent of police officers, 100 percent of nurses, social workers, veterinary workers, 100 percent of farm and domestic workers, 99 percent of all workers employed in the large malls coming up all over the place, 100 percent of all factory workers in Broadhurst Industrial, G-west Industrial, etc. 100 percent of all people who pass through the Gaborone bus rank everyday going to work! And all the more than 1 million unemployed or underemployed Batswana!
I do not buy the argument that there is no land to be allocated to people. If you have ever flown above Gaborone and surrounding areas you would not fail to notice the amount of empty unoccupied spaces that can be surveyed and allocated to people. The argument that some of the land belongs to some private people does not make sense to me. Why can’t the land be repossessed? Why can’t our parliament enact a law that says any land that is not used for a period of 5 years, whether tribal or freehold should be forfeited to the state?
Where I come from, in Marapong, people’s ploughing land has been taken away from them to pave way for village expansion with no compensation whatsoever, and right now in Marapong it takes less than 3 months to be allocated a residential plot. Why can’t this be extended to villages surrounding Gaborone. Why can’t those farms around these villages, that have not been ploughed in the past 10 or so years be repossessed and the land distributed to landless people. Why can’t the freehold farms in which no farming is going on be repossessed at no cost to the government and be distributed to the landless people? It might be illegal to do that now, but we have our parliament to make laws that favor Batswana, not to protect the interests of absentee landlords!
As long as our leaders don’t take access to land as a human right we will continue to see loads of defenseless people being dispossessed of their so called illegal plots that are never re-allocated to anyone.
It is surprising to see large malls coming up everywhere while our authorities decry lack of land. Where do these malls get their land from? We see expensive houses coming up in such places as block 10 in Gaborone, the question is where are the poor people, who are in the majority, expected to live?
My biggest worry is that the BDP as a party entrusted to manage our resources does not have a policy on land. Their Manifesto does not address this major issue. Our government officials lack political leadership on this momentous issue. If Our president showed the same zeal in getting majority of Batswana access to land that he shows in getting blankets for the extremely poor I would not be seating here writing this piece.
One might ask why is the BDP silent on the issue of land? Why can’t they take up this matter as a party and force the government to enact policies that would give people access to land. My answer to this is that BDP is financed by people who own rental property in Botswana, such as the infamous Jamali and others. Once people have access to land, the property values will plummet because nobody would want to pay P3000 for a 2 bedroomed house if they can spend P60 000 building their own 2 and a half and staying there rent free. When this happens, Jamali’s rental income would come down and he would be forced to stop bank rolling the BDP. So for the BDP, it’s a survival tactic. As long as the landlords make money, BDP makes money and as long as BDP makes money they will stay in power!
I, personally, as a believer in democracy, do not buy the argument that opposition parties do not have policies. That is as further from the truth as an assistant superintendent at the Botswana Police is from owning a BHC house! The reason why you might not know of those policies is because the BDP hordes access to free government media. BDP publicize their mediocre policies for free on Radio Botswana, BTV and at Kgotla meetings! The opposition does not have access to those forums. As long as you, dear reader without access to land, does not take a proactive action in finding out what alternative policies are out there, there is only one conclusion I can make, you will remain landless and so will your children and their children! Opposition parties in Botswana, Botswana Movement for Democracy in particular hold periodic policy forums where ordinary members are free to advice the party on what policies to prioritise and how to tackle different problems. Unfortunately I have never heard of a policy forum at BDP! Ordinary people have no influence on the policies if at all there are any. To me BDP policies are generated on the go like football game coaching instructions. Take Alcohol levy, traditional beer regulations, poverty eradication etc. If experts in those areas who might not be in the government employ were given a chance to contribute to those policies before they were implemented, the policies would have come out better than they are.
If at all there was ever a policy forum, the issue of access to land would be a priority policy for the BDP! BDP is an elitist organization where only the privileged few get to shape the direction of the policies, and this is always in their best interest! Tell me dear reader, with no access to land, do you think Lesang Magang would advise BDP to make land accessible to Batswana? And this is the same person who fervently defends BDP policies! Do you think Festus Mogae, whom we learnt was selling land in Gaborone North can advise his party to make land available to you for free? If ever declaration of assets by leaders and policy makers was made public, dear reader, without a house of their own, you will see why land will never be cheap in Gaborone, because the people who have the power to make you afford land have a conflict of interest! That’s the very reason Guma Moyo went back to the BDP, he found it hard to criticize the very policies that made him a millionaire!
In conclusion, dear reader who has no access to land, whose children would never dream of inheriting a house from you, or have access to land to build their own houses, nor afford to buy their own homes, I would like to say this to you, as long as BDP is in power, you will only own land in Botswana when you are singing “Fatshe leno la rona!” If BDP rules this country beyond 2014, I will not say a word again on this issue, because it would be clear that you love your landlessness. As a fortunate citizen who has access to more money that the ordinary Motswana, I would join the gravy train and buy more land from you and build a cozy future for me and my family! If you are satisfied with the way you live all I can say is well, good for you.
