- The same situation happened in Francistown the Gerald Estate incident. Government has probably realised that is made a mistake. This is because it disadvantaged several people who were on the waiting list. This workshop should come up with viable solutions that would rectify the problem from re-occurring.
- The slow rate of allocating land in the Kweneng District has resulted to the squatters taking the law into there own hands.
- The route problem in Mogoditshane is that people settled on fields owned by other people. We have to find out if the field owners gave these fields to the settlers or did the settlers grab these fields.
- One thing that should be made clear is that field owners do not own these lands it is communal property.
- How is it that land occupation is occurring only in Mogoditshane and not so much in other peri-urban areas around Gaborone? The reason maybe allocation of land is stricter in Tlokeweng and other peri - urban areas.
- If there is a problem with the Land Board and those problems are not highlighted or not known it would not help the situation.
- It would be very important to know if the traditional rulers had a role or had the Land Board disempowered them.
- There is that feeling that the chiefs and traditional leaders have been betrayed and undermined.
- In the past the chiefs and land overseers worked together, so there should be a relationship between the Land Board and the traditional law. If you wished to purchase land you would approach the land overseer whom would demand money then go to the Land Board.
- People get confused about who really allocates land whether it's the land board or the land overseer.
- It is well known that land is power the chief's felt disgruntled when the authority to allocate land was removed from them. At the moment the chiefs are resisting the lack of power and that resistance should not be taken lightly.
- Why did the government take such a long time after the conclusion of the Kgabo Commission to commence their demolition exercise? Politicians responsible for land matters did not want to implement it if, they had implemented it immediately it would have been less painful.
- We all agree that things could have been done better, but the squatters broke the law.
6.1 Consultant’s Primary Data Report presented by Diana Mompoloki – FONSAG
To enhance the study, statistics were needed on the effect of the evictions such as number of school leavers, crime rate increase (or decrease), clinic programme dropouts such as Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission, using secondary data from the police, schools, clinics etc.
In carrying out the study we had serious problems in accessing information, especially in Kweneng District Council.
Some of the vital data that was carried out were:
- To trace where the people whose houses had been demolished have gone,
- To document how many houses are still to be demolished in the Mogoditshane, Nkoyaphiri, Tsolamosese, Khudiring and Gabane area,
- To obtain actual dates regarding how many of those evicted will be reallocated and how many plots are available for allocation,
- To collect secondary data from schools, clinics, police, and
- To document the effect on those living with HIV/AIDS, especially whether it is counter productive to the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission and the new antiretroviral programme, targeted for the Greater Gaborone area.
Limitations of the study
- Occurred over a short period of time,
- Problems accessing information in some areas, culture of secrecy, and
- Some government officials were very helpful.
Houses and shelters to be demolished
There are a total of 5000 plots to be demolished in Mogoditshane, Nkoyaphiri, Khudiring, Gabane and Tsalamosese. Of these approximately 2500 have already been demolished. Although this area is the first to suffer these demolitions, others will follow in other villages and towns with a squatter problem. Selebi Phikwe has already been affected.
6.2 What effects has the evictions had on the various day-to-day activities?
Customary Court
The court officials have indicated that they have 95 cases outstanding due to the demolitions. They are unable to find the claimants as their cases have been demolished and they have not left any forwarding addresses with the court. The outstanding amount in these cases is about P 10, 000.00. These cases are both civil and criminal.
Mogoditshane Police
- People are returning or moving to Mogoditshane again due to the standpipes in Gaborone being closed.
- An increase in homeless people sleeping in the streets and especially at bars and liquor stores.
- Man power and other resources such as vehicles used during the clearances left a gap in policing and could have led to the increase in crime figures in the area, by approximately 30%.
- The partly demolished houses make a good hiding place for thieves.
- Many people are seeing these areas for very unsanitary temporary housing.
Block 9 Clinic
About 60% of the attending patients are from Kweneng from the areas of Mogoditshane, Nkoyaphiri and Tsolamosese. Block 9 clinic has about 244 patients from these areas that are TB patients, as they have no proper homes they are therefore not registered. As a result the clinic is unable to practice patient outreach and follow ups.
The patients are obviously at greater risk of dying from the disease and are more likely in un-sanitary conditions to spread the disease to others. There is also the risk of spreading or creating the drug resistant TB if they do not regularly attend the clinic and take their medication regularly. Obviously this has serious health implications for the country as a whole.
Block 9, Primary School
Many of the children from Tsolamosese went to school in Block 9. In 2001 there were 137 dropouts and transfers and only 61 incoming students. This is repeated all over the area, it was also noticed that schools did not keep records of where the children are going or why they left but it is very likely that the cause is the clearances.
The school authorities also complained that the children found it hard to keep clean, as there is very limited access to water in Tsolamoses and had to be carried for long distances.
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