Basotho Action Party leader (BAP) leader, Professor Nqosa Mahao, has called on the government to urgently halt the rapid spread of housing settlements onto agricultural land.
He warned that the country’s food security is under growing threat as fertile fields disappear beneath expanding villages and urban development.
Prof Mahao advised the government to urgently impose a moratorium on housing settlements developing rampantly on agricultural land.
Such developments undermine food production for current citizens and prosperity, at a time Lesotho is already unable to produce enough grain needs. It produces 25 percent of its food requirements and imports the remaining 75 percent.
Speaking in the National Assembly on Wednesday this week, he further called on the government to embark on a digital delimitation process that would produce countrywide land use plans which would be legally binding to local authorities.
In a subsequent interview with theReporter yesterday, Prof Mahao said he filed the motion in June last year but it was only put on the order paper this week. This shows how reluctant parliament is to deal with the matter, he said.
He said he was concerned that Basotho are using agricultural land to build houses, in areas such as Ha Motloheloa, Ha Makhalanyane and Maputsoe in Leribe.
He added that research had shown that from 1988 and 2019, 92 percent of arable agricultural land in peri-urban areas was being used for housing.
“This is wrong; I am urging the government to impose a moratorium on this practice,” he said.
However, Prof Mahao’s motion was not debated this week because Matala MP, Dr Tŝeliso Moroke, reportedly filed a similar motion in November last year.
The Speaker of National Assembly, Tlohang Sekhamane, said he would compare the two motions before deciding the way forward.
Prof Mahao said he was not aware of Dr Moroke’s motion, arguing that if similar motions existed without clear action from the responding ministries, it raises concerns about how seriously parliamentary resolutions are taken.
Dr Moroke then raised a point of order, stating that this is a component of his motion because it speaks on housing settlements which have encroached on agricultural land.
He noted that the problem reflects weak regulation of land use.
“In my motion I spoke on human settlements, that there needs to be master plan when it comes to the building environment,” he said.
Sekhamane noted that the bigger thing is that Dr Moroke’s motion was passed, explaining that what needs to be looked at is how far the process is.
He indicated that he would confirm if the motions corroborate.
“With this predicament, I need to see if the two motions are the same and if Professor Mohao’s motion is a component of Dr Moroke’s motion which has passed,” he indicated.
MP for Makhaleng Mootsi Lehata also weighed in on the two motions, saying that Standing Order 105, which governs resolutions affecting ministries, was not used in handling the matter.
Lehata said if the law had been properly applied, particularly in relation to the adoption of Dr Moroke’s motion, the issue could not have been handled in the way it was.
“This shows that there is a gap in the implementation of House resolutions, as ministries do not provide feedback on progress,” he stated.
Commenting on the matter, agricultural economist at the National University of Lesotho, Montoeli Rantlo said the turning of housing settlements onto agricultural land was dentrimental to the country’s development and efforts to attract foreign investors.
He stated that areas such Masowe, Ha Foso, and Ha Ramohapi in Mafeteng have been turned into urban housing projects. The situation was the same in Botha Bothe.
This demonstrates the magnitude of the problem, which has become a national crisis, he stated.
“This is happening despite existence legislation that agricultural land should not be used for any other purposes,” Rantlo pointed out, citing Lesotho cannot sustain uncontrolled settlements.
He warned that existing laws need to be enforced to avoid further problems in the long run.
Rantlo further noted that agriculture is crucial to foreign direct investment hence the imperative to bring the illegal settlements across the country under control.
