The ministry of land and agriculture has no plans to resettle people whose homes were demolished at Shashe Bridge in Maun in 2016 for illegal occupation of land.
The affected residents have been advised to follow the right procedures for allocation of land, and the assumption is that they have, or they are doing so.
This is according to the assistant minister of trade and entrepreneurship, Baratiwa Mathoothe who was answering a question in Parliament on behalf of Minister of Lands and Agriculture., Edwin Dikoloti.
Mathoothe also stated that no provisions were made for the compensation of those whose homes were demolished at the time the demolition process was suspended. He highlighted that this is because the nature of the occupation of the land did not entitle the occupants to any form of compensation, and court order was obtained against them and it has not been abandoned.
Giving background, Mathoothe said that in Shashe Bridge, there are people who were legally allocated plots, while others had illegally occupied the land.
According to him, those who had illegally occupied were taken to the Land Tribunal which in 2016 ruled that 81 of the 200 who were profiled be evicted and their shelters be demolished.
He noted that during the process of demolition, the Tawana Land Board was at some point instructed, by the Office of the President, to suspend the demolitions so that a nationwide exercise to profile squatters be undertaken with a view to providing amnesty to those who may qualify based on the criteria to be developed.
“The exercise was carried out around 2016 to profile squatters with a view to granting amnesty based on the history of land occupation in the area as well as the environmental considerations. Land Boards across the country were then directed, by the Office of the President to suspend the implementation of the court orders pending the outcome.”
Mathoothe said that the exercise resulted in two groups of squatters, those whose homes have been demolished and those who remained as the instruction was issued before their shelters could be demolished.
He stated that only the properties that met the criteria for legal occupation were formally recognised while the rest are still classified as squatters within a recognised ward.
“To the extent that Shashe Bridge has been established as a ward in Maun, it is a recognised settlement. However, plot’ allocations have ceased in the area on account of the environmental sensitivity of the area- and the existence of aquifers and being a flood plain,” he said.
Member of Parliament for Maun West, Caterpillar Hikuama had asked the minister to give an update on the land tenure status of the demolished homes at Shashe Bridge in the Maun West Constituency, and to state if these properties were formally recognised settlements or classified as informal/squatter settlements.
He had wanted to know whether any attempts were made by the land board to regularise land occupancy of the Shashe Bridge residents prior to the demolition, and what provisions, if any, have been made for the compensation of residents whose homes were demolished.
Hikuama also asked the minister if the government has made any arrangements for the resettlement or relocation of the displaced or affected residents.
