The government has endorsed recommendations for the compulsory acquisition of freehold farms as part of its endeavors to utilise them for national development. This decision stems from the government white paper on the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Review of the Constitution of Botswana, which received Cabinet approval recently.
The Commission recommended that the government compulsorily acquire freehold farms, designate them as tribal land, and transfer them to the appropriate Land Boards for allocation to Batswana.
The government approved this recommendation noting that “the compulsorily acquisition of freedom farms in the interest of security and national development.”
According to the government, “such land will become state land and that the compulsory acquisition should be subject to: consideration of financial implications; transparent…”
The government added that there is a need for “extensive consultations being undertaken and development of comprehensive guidelines to address absentee freehold land owners.”
Most owners of freehold farms obtained rights in colonial times and the land has either remained in the family through generations or been sold.
The government concurred with the Commission’s recommendation that Batswana should be prohibited from selling land allocated to them by Land Boards to non-citizens. Instead, they should only lease such land to non-citizens.
“Government agreed with the recommendation from the Commission and noted that Batswana are dispossessed of their land with the result that non-citizens end up owning large chunks of land,” said the government.
But the Government rejected a proposal by the commission recommending that the right to land should be enshrined in the constitution noting that; laws including the constitution are drafted perpetuity.
“Given that land is a finite resource, the right to land will pose implementation challenges if land is unavailable. Once a person is granted such a right, it becomes justiciable; the right to access land is already provided for under the current Land Policy which allows every 16-year-old Motswana to apply for land in any area in Botswana,” the government argued.
The government supported the Commission’s recommendations regarding the demarcation and allocation of plots to churches outside residential areas. However, it disagreed with the aspect suggesting that land boards alone should make decisions on demarcation. Instead, it proposed that such decisions should align with existing land use plans. Additionally, the government disagreed with the terminology “churches” and suggested using “places of worship” instead.
“There is need to provide for well-designed process and mechanisms related to the facilitation of the land allocation policy, with robust and frequent monitoring and evaluation of the policy,” the government said.
The commission proposed that there should be sufficient compensation for tribal land compulsorily acquired by the government and Land Boards. However, the government rejected this proposal, citing that section 32 of the Tribal Land Act 2018 adequately addresses this issue.
The Commission also recommended that the allocation of tribal land should remain the responsibility of the Land Boards and that land allocation by Land Boards should be expedited to avoid unnecessary delays. The government agreed with this recommendation, affirming that Land Boards are indeed the appropriate institutions for land allocation and management.
The government also concurred that in cases where the applicant dies before being allotted land, the rightful heirs should be allocated the deceased’s land to facilitate their access to land promptly. However, this allocation should be contingent upon the condition that the rightful heir does not already own any tribal land.
