Botswana – Controversy is trailing the true ownership of the Moremi Game Reserve –a tourist’s fortress near Maun.
Member of Parliament for Maun West Tawana Moremi is on a mission to have the ownership of the reserve-described by the Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) as a “gem of a National Park”-transferred back to the Batawana community. On Wednesday the MP asked the lands minister Lebonaamang Mokalake if he was aware that as of 1963, the land known as Moremi Game Reserve has been allocated and a grant made as per the Tawana Land Board minutes of 20 March 1975.
He said the land was also under the control of the Fauna Conservation Society – a Customary Incorporation of the Batawana Tribe – as per the Land Board minutes of 6-7 February 1978. ‘Tribal land regulations section 20 (4) requires consent of the owner of rights over Moremi Game Reserve for any grants over the land,” argues Moremi.
Last month Moremi told a Kgotla meeting in Maun that Batawana will do anything in their power to reclaim ownership of the reserve. The MP has the support of the tribal leadership on the issue…
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