BDC clash with squatters over land ownership
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Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) is preparing to evict defiant squatters in a certain piece of land in Block 5, Gaborone following a lengthy consultation process that has not borne fruits, WeekendPost has learnt. The contested land is located behind Grand Palm hotel, and extends to the border which separates Block 5 and Mogoditshane.
BDC Head of Corporate Affairs and Strategy Boitshwarelo Lebang, has affirmed that the land belongs to BDC and that it is owned by a 100 percent BDC subsidiary, Residential Holdings (Pty) Ltd. She indicated that the corporation has supporting documents as proof of ownership. Lebang said the land, which measures 92.59 hectares in area was acquired was acquired in 2003 from the state.
BDC spokesperson stated that there was a compensation offered to those who voluntarily agreed to vacate the land but refused to disclose the kind of compensation offered to the affected people. “The illegal occupants were consulted and given enough time to relocate the property. Some occupants vacated while others remained,” said Lebang.
“The Corporation has had a series of engagement sessions with the remaining occupants to vacate the land as some developments were planned to take place on the land. These developments have now commenced.” Lebang revealed that mixed use of developments are planned for the area and already a boundary wall construction has commenced. Some residents who spoke to this publication claim to live in fear as demolition of their property could leave them homeless anytime.
Some hopes that the matter will at least in the end be resolved in consideration of their welfare. There is however a contrasting view on the ownership of the land from those who occupy it. Some claim the piece of land used to be a privately owned farm. The occupants also indicate that they have occupied the disputed land in 1990, 13 years before BDC came into picture. In an interview with one of the occupants, Eba Sethole, she indicated that certain Mr Sefodi, who have since died used to own the land and sold part of the land to them.
“It is unfortunate that we bought the land back then when documentation wasn’t so popular, that is why only the initial owners can attest on our behalf,” she said. She further stated that when they first started residing in the land it was just a bush. Today the land is now a settlement with houses built in corrugated iron sheets and few houses built in modern structures. The 63 year-old Sethole stated that she is one of the first residents to dwell in the land, mentioning that their case with BDC emerged in 2003, when eviction threats started being thrown at them.
“We remained unshaken because we knew we own the land, court cases were piled on us but they just never bore any fruit; we are still here today,” said the defiant Sethole. Sethole said after BDC started threatening them, some residents moved to seek shelter elsewhere. Initially, according to Sethole, there were 49 occupants back then but now 41 remains, hoping for a positive outcome.
According to Sethole, BDC keeps calling meetings between them, their Councillor, Rhoda Sekgororwane and council representative’s and in all the meetings, BDC still insist the land is theirs. “Our councillor [Sekgororwane] has been on her toes since this case materialised, we are constantly slapped with warnings that we have 14 days to evict the place,” she said. She said the last warning summoning them to evict the place was last year November which denoted that they had seven days to leave the place.
In her capacity as the sitting councillor for Block 5, Sekgororwane told this publication that, her concern is for BDC to resolve the matter considering how their eviction could impact the occupants. She stated that if the eviction is to materialise, the least BDC can do is to allocate land to the residents somewhere lawfully. “We have been going back and forth with this case; we have met with BDC head of corporate affairs and strategy officer Boitshwarelo Lebang and their lawyer Tebogo Sebego to try to find resolution to this matter,” Sekgororwane said.
Sekgororwane, who is a member of opposition Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) stated that the last time she talked to Lebang and Sebego they requested the number of residents staying within the area, and their full particulars. She said she pleaded with them to remember to be a considerate and caring nation as per the national vision. The Councillor told this publication that the dispute is known by various stakeholder including Ministry of Lands, Local Government and some of the Head chiefs.
Rhoda said some chiefs are even willing to find land within their areas to allocate to the affected residents but only limited by lack of authority. The area which used to be known as Ko-Motseng does not have water supply and residents depend on buying water for survival.
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DPP drops Kably threat to kill case
The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Chief Whip and Member of Parliament for Letlhakeng/Lephephe Liakat Kably has welcomed the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP)’s decision not to prosecute BDP councillor, Meshack Tshenyego who allegedly threatened to kill him. However, the legislator has warned that should anything happen to his life, the state and the courts will have to account.
In an interview with this publication, Kablay said he has heard that the DPP has declined to prosecute Tshenyego in a case in which he threatened to kill him adding that the reasons he received are that there was not enough evidence to prosecute. “I am fine and at peace with the decision not to prosecute over evidential deficits but I must warn that should anything happen to my life both the DPP and the Magistrate will have to account,” Kablay said.
Connectedly, Kably said he has made peace with Tshenyego, “we have made peace and he even called me where upon we agreed to work for the party and bury the hatchet”.
The DPP reportedly entered into a Nolle Prosequi in the matter, meaning that no action would be taken against the former Letlhakeng Sub-district council chairperson and currently councillor for Matshwabisi.
According to the charge sheet before the Court, councilor Tshenyego on July 8th, 2022 allegedly threatened MP Kably by indirectly uttering the following words to nominatedcouncilor Anderson Molebogi Mathibe, “Mosadi wa ga Liakat le ban aba gagwe ba tsile go lela, Mosadi wame le banake le bone ba tsile go lela. E tla re re mo meeting, ka re tsena meeting mmogo, ke tla mo tlolela a bo ke mmolaya.”
Loosely translated this means, Liakat’s wife and children are going to shed tears and my wife and kids will shed tears too. I will jump on him and kill him during a meeting.
Mathibe is said to have recorded the meeting and forwarded it to Kably who reported the matter to the police.
In a notice to the Magistrate Court to have the case against Tshenyego, acting director of Public Prosecutions, Wesson Manchwe cited the nolle prosequi by the director of public prosecution in terms of section 51 A (30) of the Constitution and section 10 of the criminal procedure and evidence act (CAP 08:02) laws of Botswana as reasons for dropping the charges.
A nolle prosequi is a formal notice of abandonment by a plaintiff or prosecutor of all or part of a suit or action.
“In pursuance of my powers under section 51 A (300 of the Constitution and section 10 of the criminal procedure and evidence act (CAP 08:02) laws of Botswana, I do hereby stop and discontinue criminal proceedings against the accused Meshack Tshenyego in the Kweneng Administrative District, CR.No.1077/07/2022 being the case of the State vs Tshenyego,” said Manchwe. The acting director had drafted the notice dropping the charges on 13th day of March 2023.
The case then resumed before the Molepolole Magistrate Solomon Setshedi on the 14th of March 2023. The Magistrate issued an order directing “that matters be withdrawn with prejudice to the State, accused is acquitted and discharged.”
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DPP seizes prosecution duties from Police
Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) has finally taken over prosecution from the Botswana Police Service (BPS). The police have been prosecuting for years, but the takeover means that they will now only focus on investigations and then hand over to the DPP for prosecution.
Talks of complete takeover began as far back as 2008, but for years it seemed implementation was sluggish. However, the Minister of Justice, Machana Shamukuni, revealed that the complete takeover is expected to be completed soon.
During a presentation to the Committee of Supply by Shamukuni this week, it was revealed that the project has been implemented in 22 police stations nationwide, including Maun, Selebi-Phikwe, Palapye, Francistown, and Kasane. He further stated that the project has been allocated P3,000,000 for the 2023/2024 financial year to facilitate the opening of more satellite offices for the DPP.
Shamukuni said the Lobatse station is scheduled for a complete takeover by the end of May 2023, while the Kasane DPP satellite office has been established and became operational as of February 1, 2023.
“As reported previously, preparations are at an advanced stage to open a satellite office in Tsabong to curtail expenses, as well as frequent long-distance trips to these areas, as it is currently serviced by the Lobatse DPP office,” Shamukuni said.
Shamukuni said that the takeover strategy is to enable a seamless and gradual takeover of prosecution from the BPS without overwhelming and overstretching the thin resources at its disposal.
According to Shamukuni, the implementation of the prosecution takeover project has increased the workload of the 211 prosecutors in the DPP establishment.
Furthermore, the Justice Minister said DPP statistics show that the DPP has a total of 11,903 cases and dockets as of January 2023. He indicated that this is a significant increase in the number of cases being handled by the DPP, considering that in November 2021, the DPP had just over 8,471 files.
“Out of the total case load, 8 382 are cases pending before various courts while 3521 are dockets received from law enforcement agencies of which 1 325 are awaiting service of summons while the rest are being assessed for suitability of prosecution or otherwise” said Shamukuni.
He further stated that The DPP has consistently maintained an 80% success rate in matters completed at court.
“As at the end of January 2023, the success rate stood at 82.3% against a target of 90% whilst the average performance in respect of turnaround time for conclusion of cases at court stood at 17.5 months against a target of 18 months,” he said.
BACKLOG OF CASES – LAND TRIBUNAL
Meanwhile, Minister Shamukuni has revealed that Gaborone land Tribunal is experiencing a backlog of cases. Before parliament this week, Shamukuni revealed that a total 230 appeals were completed for the period of April 2022- December 2022 and only 76.5% of them were completed within set time frame.
The minister said that the Gaborone division has experiencing a backlog of cases due to manpower constraints and he further indicated that presiding officers from other divisions have been brought in to expedite case disposal.
He further indicated that the land tribunal is a specialized court that has been empowered to resolve appeals arising from land boards. “It has been mandated to determine appeals from the decisions of Physical planning committees of Districts Councils” said Shamukuni.
Land Tribunal relocated to the Ministry of Justice from Ministry of Land and Water Affairs in November 2022.
“An amount of P37, 842,670 is requested to cover salaries, allowance and other operational expenses for the Department of the land Tribunal,” alluded Shamukuni
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BCP, AP stalemate in 7 constituencies
When the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), Alliance for Progressives, Botswana Labour Party (BLP), and conveners reconvene next week, the controversial issue of allocation of the seven constituencies will be the main topic of discussion, WeekendPost can reveal.
Not only that, but the additional four constituencies will also dominate the talks. The idea is to finally close the “constituency allocation phase,” which has proven to be the most difficult part of the ongoing negotiations.
Earlier this year, the two parties announced that the marathon talks would be concluded by February. Even at a media briefing last month, BCP Secretary General Goretetse Kekgonegile and Publicity Secretary Dr. Mpho Pheko were optimistic that the negotiations would be concluded before the end of February.
However, it is now mid-March and the talks have yet to be concluded. What could be the reasons for the delay? This is a question that both Kekgonegile and Pheko have not responded to, as they have ignored the reporters’ inquiries. However, a senior figure within the party has confided to this publication as to what is delaying the highly anticipated negotiations.
“We are reconvening next week to finalize constituency allocations, taking into account the additional four new ones plus the outstanding seven,” he explained. It later surfaced that Gaborone Central, Gaborone North, Mogoditshane, Tswapong North, Francistown West, Tati West, and Nata Gweta are all contested by both BCP and AP. This is because the other 50 constituencies were allocated by December of last year.
The three parties have failed to find common ground for the Bosele Ward by-elections. Are these constituencies not a deal breaker for the talks? “None of the constituencies is a deal breaker,” responded a very calm BCP official.
In Bosele Ward, AP has yielded to BCP, despite most of its members disapproving the decision. On the other hand, BLP has refused, and it will face off with BCP together with Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).
The decision by BLP to face off with BCP has been labelled as a false start for the talks by political observers.