05 Mar 2025

The Serowe Sub-Land Board has allocated a total of 1 208 residential plots across the district.

Serowe District Council chairperson, Councillor Atamelang Thaga informed councillors during the full council meeting, which started on Monday in Serowe. He said Moiyabana was allocated 514 plots, Mabuo 375 plots, and Mmashoro 319 plots, marking an increase of 218 plots since the last council session.

Councillor Thaga said the Paje Sub-Land Board had completed and approved the design of 82.1 hectares, yielding approximately 450 residential plots. He also said a recreational area (golf course) in Mannathoko ward in Serowe was being proposed for a change of land use to to residential to facilitate the process of residential layout designs.

Councillor Thaga said a layout design was ongoing for Motshegaletau village expansion, which shall cater for residential and supporting uses and there was currently limited agricultural land available for allocation as arable land depletion threatens pastoral areas.

“The land board is working on a model to balance arable and pastoral land uses. Following consultations, the community agreed to plan masimo lands to enhance land management. Applications for infill plots already received will also be processed accordingly,” he said.

He said to date, 373 farming plots had been allocated in Serowe, while the Paje Sub-Land Board allocated 150 plots. However, he said there was a growing concern over the increasing sale of these allocated plots, with a noticeable rise in property transfers.

The chairperson stated that the reduction of communal grazing areas across villages was negatively affecting pastoral farmers. He also said rising demand for arable land had encroached on these grazing zones, leading to land-use conflicts within communities.

Councillor Thaga said to address this, the sub-land board had initiated a mapping exercise to clearly define boundaries between arable and pastoral lands, providing a framework for more balanced and guided land allocations.

In other issues, he said the Department of Civil and National registration has a total of 790 National Identity cards, which remain uncollected as at 14th February 2025 for Serowe District.

“The department continues to reach out to the citizens through various platforms among them press releases, use of social media and spot announcements to encourage them to collect their identity cards (Omang),” he said.

He advised members of the public to renew their identity cards at least three months before the date of expiry.

Councillor Thaga informed members that the Societies Online Re-registration period was extended from 29th November 2024 to 31st March 2025 and this exercise applied to Non- Profit making Organisations (NPOs) registered under Societies Act of 2022 and aims to transfer the already existing societies from manual system to automated online system.

To re- register, he said NPO’s could access the portal https://1gov.gov.bw for self-registration or seek assistance at any Civil and National Registration Office across the country. ENDS