🇧🇼BotswanaSouthern Africa
Bodungwane residents seek High Court protection against eviction threat
via Mmegi1 min read
A group of 168 residents from Bodungwane, led by Ompegile Ratsie, Gofaone Leburu, Lorato Leburu, and Bonolo Modise, has filed an urgent application with the High Court to prevent their eviction from land they claim their families have occupied for over a century. The residents, represented by Ndzinge Makhamisa Law Group, are challenging the Kgatleng Land Board, the Bodungwane Farmlands Borehole Syndicate, seven members of the syndicate, and Deputy Sheriff Lotty Manyepetsa. In an affidavit before Justice Ranier Busang of the Lobatse High Court, Ratsie states that the threatened eviction violates their constitutional rights and disregards legal procedures requiring a hearing before removal from occupied land. The residents assert that their homes, livestock, fields, and graves are in Bodungwane and they have no alternative place to go. They trace their occupation back to approximately 1901 when Kgosi Isang Pilane reportedly allocated the land to their ancestors under customary law. Ratsie argues that the applicants are descendants of Basarwa families who have continuously occupied the area since before the modern land administration system was established, and the lack of formal Land Board allocation certificates does not render them illegal occupiers.
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This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by Mmegi.
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