12 Sep 2019

Okavango prospective parliamentary candidates have promised to come up with new systems to better land allocation and usage in Okavango and the country at large should they win the general election scheduled for October 23.

Those who will battle it out for the parliamentary seat are Mr Kenny Kapinga of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), Mr Kabelo Mahupe of Alliance for Progressives (AP) and Mr Bagalatia Arone of Botswana Democratic Party (BDP).

During a Radio Botswana debate in Shakawe on Wednesday, Mr Kapinga said upon assumption of power, the UDC would design a policy with a turnaround time for land allocation.

He said should they be given a chance, promising that within 18 months in power, his government would have cleared the backlog of applicants on the waiting list at the land boards.

Mr Kapinga also said citizens would have to wait for only 18 months to be allocated land after application.

On another issue, he said Okavango residents relied on cattle farming for sustenance but it was sad to see a beast being sold at a low price of P2 500, as they had nowhere to sell. 

He therefore said should he be elected to Parliament, he would advocate for and find a beef market for such farmers in other countries such as Angola and Kuwait as the countries had in the past shown interest in Botswana’s beef.

As for education, Mr Kapinga said UDC was going to give each pupil starting from primary to secondary school, tablet phones for them to familiarise themselves with technology at an early age, to be ready for the fourth industrial revolution.

For his part, Mr Mahupe said the land policy should be reviewed such that it accommodated the culture of Okavango residents, citing an example of land inheritance.

He said in their culture when someone who owns land passes on, it could take a long time for family members to decide who inherit that land.

He, however, noted that with the current policy, the community was disadvantaged because it stated that land should be inherited within 12 months.

Mr Mahupe, therefore, said AP would formulate a land policy to address the interests of respective localities.

He also said in an effort to control the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), his government would drill boreholes in some land far from the river for farmers to keep and water their cattle, to minimise the interaction of wild animals and livestock.

The AP parliamentary prospective candidate further noted that they would identify elephants’ corridors and erect fences along the corridors to control their movement.

On another issue, Mr Mahupe said Okavango was poverty-stricken, despite rich in resources.

He said it was high time Okavango benefited from its natural resources in terms of tourism revenue, suggesting that 50 per cent of the revenue should be reserved for infrastructural developments in Okavango.

Mr Bagalatia Arone of BDP said everything done by the government such as the land policy review was in the best interest of Batswana.

He said under the reviewed land policy, concessions in the delta now belonged to Batswana.

Mr Arone also noted that other regulations in the land policy amended in the interests of Batswana included people being allowed to use another portion of their land for a different purpose.

He said the land policy was initially viewed as discriminatory as married couples were only entitled to one plot but now they could each have their own plot, adding in their culture they could marry more than one wife, hence the policy was a disadvantage before the amendment.

Mr Arone also noted that the BDP did things according to plan citing an example of a serviced land first before allocation.

On a different matter, Mr Arone said next year they would introduce mother tongue education in schools and community radio stations. ENDS