RESPONSES TO STRATEGIES 6.1 INTRODUCTION m STRATEGIES
CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION
7.2 RECDMENDATIDNS
The recommendations below build on the analysis and discussions in the previous chapters. They start off with the ones that address the existing problem and end with the more general ones, which are aimed at avoiding and! or preventing invasion to occur again in future. Recommendations that are specific to the study area are based on the conclusion drawn from the assessment made through the weighting system The solutions are based on what is feasible and viable in terms of the social, economic, political and technical aspects.
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7.2.1 Recommendations for Existing Problems
The recommendations to be given are based on the fact that the existing problems go beyond the design level, and require more than effective community participation. While the issue of backdated Form C's is an open secret; but at the moment, there is no way of proving its illegality.
As such the informal settlers that the study investigates, do not consider themselves as so. The fact that they have bought the land makes it difficult to blame them, but at the same time it is not easy to blame field owners as their interference on the plan is indirect. Even so, the fact that land has been bought informally does not give one the right to build a house in the middle of a road. The upgrading is imperative in this area and the two strategies, which have been identified, in the previous chapter, as the most appropriate in resolving the existing land development problems in the Ha Matala study area will be recommended variably depending on the most feasible to addressing a particular problem.
Inview of the socio-economic, political and technical challenges that allude to these strategies, the study recommends that the strategies should be implemented with some adjustments, such as the financial assistance from the government. This should come in the form of soft loans, subsidies and to a lesser extent, grants, and not in a liquid form. Loans should go to the aflluent class, subsidies, to the middle class and grants to the poor. A major part in upgrading this area successfully should be undertaken by the informal settlers. As with the problems identified, the recommendations are also categorised.
• Access
In terms of Plates 6, 7, and 8 (pp. 70), there are 2 solutions. The structures (i.e. the house and fences) that are blocking access (plates 6 and 7) should be displaced. Plate 8, requires redesigning.
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• Subdivision of Open Spaces
Since the LHLDC has made it clear that it is a profit making institution, and that it derives salaries to pay its employees from the development schemes, the government should buy the open spaces, and rescue them from being turned into residential lots.
• Affected Infrastructure
Where water mains and roads are affected, displacement should only take place ifthe socio- economic, political and technical costs of redesigning these may prove to be high, either in the short or long term. In the case of electricity, the imposing structures such as the one seen on Plate 9 (pp. 71) should be displaced. However, in the case where it is quite apparent that the fault comes from the providers' side, the provider should redesign the alignment of the poles and cables.
7.2.2 Recommendations for Future Problems
Land must be managed and controlled by agricultural professionals and people capable of making the best productive use of it. Even where there are good laws, there is no implementation and/or law enforcement and nobody takes the responsibility in Lesotho at the moment. In a nutshell the government and land institutions have, as pointed out earlier, completely lost control of land administration, and land management as well as development ofland and its resources. Predictions are that by the year 2020, the whole country will be left with nothing but sand and rocks (Land Policy Review Commission, 2000).
The people obviously needed a full understanding of the urban life, rules and regulations. They needed to know what would be expected of them as new urbanites. So in future there should be educational programmes that will enlighten the people appropriately. People need to be taught about planning and the importance of planned areas. They need to be equipped in such a manner that they are able to make sound contributions in planning matters. The people should be in a position to control developments within their own living environments. They need to know and
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understand why it is necessary to go through certain procedures to acquire land and to also know and understand planning processes.
The 1979 Land Act repealed the law ofLerotholi, which stated that all land in Lesotho belonged to the Basotho Nation. And was held in trust by the King, as head of state, whose powers of land allocation and administration were delegated to the village chiefs; the land could still be reclaimed for other uses that the chief deemed more beneficial for the society or nation as a whole. This could be accomplished without leaving affected parties in despair. In practice then, land belonged to the state and the state could reclaim it any time. Therefore, no one had a right to either buy or sell it. Land tenure was oriented toward stewardship.
However, as the government has changed hands, new policies that guided the deliverance and use of land simultaneously changed people's attitudes towards land. The Basotho nation started to view land as a commodity as against a public property. Hence, they started to subdivide and sell it privately, which was and still is an illegal Act (Romaya &Brown 1999, Leduka 1993, Fmnklin, 1995).
Chieftainship and consultative planning should be part of the due solution, and in this way, the chief and the community can protect the markings, because they will automatically feel responsible.