The state and land legislation in Botswana

Abstract

This paper aims to understand the political and legal dynamics involved in aspects of local government in Botswana as exemplified by legislative enactments. Mawhood (1985) suggests that such structures are charged with specific functions, for which specific scopes of authority are conferred. The land boards of Botswana are one such example. The paper concludes that there is a need to retrace the steps up to the inception of the Tribal Land Act (TLA), and to examine aspects of the act itself, as well as its implementation and consequent effects and flaws. Local government and governance are not achievable only by legislation and rule-making. Legitimisation is also a key element. If land tenure transformation, use and administration in Botswana via the medium of the land board system is to continue, it calls for a re-look at the whole question of land and its centrality in development and the lives of the citizenry and, therefore, the role of the land boards.