SOME MPS CRITICAL THE DRAFT LAND POLICY Some Members of Parliament have disagreed with the draft Botswana land policy as they believe the policy has potential to promote tribalism. Debating the policy, the MP for Gaborone West South, the Honourable Botsalo Ntuane, said the policy would set up a chain reaction that would shake the very foundation of Botswana to the core if not carefully addressed. He said the post-independence saw many Batswana moving from their homesteads to make way for the copper mine in Selebi Phikwe while others had to make way for Jwaneng and Orapa mines which in turn helped develop the people of Botswana. “We have never seen discrimination in employment of any sort at these different mines. You cannot argue that we are talking about land and not other natural resources, who then determines that it should stop with land and not other resources because these are all natural resources,” he said. The Honourable Ntuane said land was as much a natural resource as diamonds, copper and water and people have been made to understand that it was a national sacrifice since government was trying to build a nation, adding: “Should we agree on this policy especially with paragraph 72, we will be regressing and going back 47years, because it was at the dawn of independence that we decided that we are going to build a Botswana modelled along these parameters where the nation of Botswana not tribes is paramount above all else.” Kanye North legislator, the Honourable Kentse Rammidi also said he was fearful of consequences that might befall Botswana, adding that land should be treated as a dire situation that needed an urgent remedy. He said there was no need not look too far to understand the ghastly consequences that could befall Botswana if Government did not act in a timely and purposeful way to address land issues. He further said that land hunger was at the core of some of the current conflicts in communities saying that unless this ticking time bomb was diffused, the country could suffer serious instability. MP for Tswapong North, the Honourable Prince Maele, also argued that land hunger could fuel tribalism in some instances given the dire circumstances that some communities find themselves in. (BOPA)
Posted on: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 14:55:25 +0000
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