Brickfield reserved for small scale businesses

GABORONE - The brickfield area in Lobatse is zoned for small-scale industrial development, Minister of Lands and Housing, Mr Nonofho Molefhi has said.
He said according to the lay-out plan which was approved by the town and country planning board on October 29, 1998, it consists of 82 plots.
He said once the area is fully serviced, the plots will be advertised to the general public through tender since government would have to recover costs of servicing the land.
Mr Molefhi said around 1985 and 1986, Lobatse Town Council resolved that people at brickfield be allocated residential plots within the town.
He said only those who were into brick moulding were to remain temporarily in the brickfield and were to leave two rooms for use as storerooms and guard houses, adding that the total number of people who qualified was 13.
The minister said the council further resolved that those who were undertaking, as well as those who were interested in undertaking brick moulding, should apply to the Department of Lands for consideration during the allocation process.
They were also advised that they will not be given preferential treatment as they will be competing with other people interested in acquiring industrial plots, said Mr Molefhi.
He said it is therefore clear from the foregoing that Lobatse Town Council never promised people that they would be allocated plots once the infrastructure is in place.
Mr Molefhi said notwithstanding from the above, his ministry is amenable to the idea of reserving one or two plots to a trust comprising people who previously occupied the brickfield area, once the area has been properly serviced.
He said the idea is motivated by the need to encourage and support poverty alleviation initiatives for low-income groups.
The minister said the plots in the said area were never their plots or owned by the users, and that they have always been part of state land.
The MP for Lobatse, Mr Nehemiah Modubule, had asked the minister whether people who were moved from their business plots at Brickfield (ditena) area in Lobatse on February 3 this year will be allocated plots in the same area once the infrastructure is in place, as was previously promised by the council.