Chiefs and the Politics of Land Reform in the North East District, Botswana, 2005–2008

Abstract

The North East District has the most contentious land question in post-colonial Botswana. Most of its land was expropriated by a colonial syndicate called the Tati Concessions (Tati Company) in the 1880s. Chunks of said land are still held under freehold titles resulting in the district experiencing severe land scarcity, especially for communal use. In a continuous effort to address this problem, the government purchased 19 freehold farms between 2005 and 2008 (about 20000 hectares) for redistribution. The process was carried out under the leadership of the Tati Land Board and North East District Administration while the chiefs and their communities were marginalised. This oversight and marginalisation of traditional leaders and their communities undermine the Chieftainship Act, which mandates the chiefs to actively promote the welfare of their tribes, inform them about developments and government policies. Using the participatory democracy theory, the article examines this land reform from the point of view of the local chiefs. It concludes that the marginalisation of the chiefs amounted to ‘community exclusion’ rendering the reform anti-redistributive.