The role of government and local authorities in land management has been reviewed to meet new challenges.

The Minister of Local Government and Chieftainship Affairs, Dr Ponts'o Sekatle said this at the occasion to mark this year's World Habitat Day in Maseru on Thursday.

Dr Sekatle said the immediate challenge is to empower local authorities with land related issues and to improve chieftainship as a strategy to complement governance at grassroots level.

She further said, in an effort to improve the quality of life in cities, towns and villages in the country, the ministry has intended to develop a legal framework and administrative guidelines for land use and physical planning in urban and rural areas.

'Guiding principles will be set for major land use categories such as agriculture, forestry, rangelands, settlement, industry and mining.' she said.

This year’s theme was 'A safe city is a just city,' which has been chosen by the United Nations to create awareness and encourage reflection on the mounting threats to urban safety and social justice, particularly urban crime and violence, forced evictions, insecurity of tenure as well as natural and man made disasters.

At the occasion the Minister presented awards to institutions and individuals for their contribution in promoting urban safety. They included Moafrika FM through its popular 'Mokhosi' programme, Federation of Women Lawyers, Women and Law in Southern Africa, Durham Link, Lesotho Mounted Police Service through community policing.

Four High Schools’ students and three Primary Schools' pupils also received prizes for participating in drawings and essay competition.

World Habitat Day is an annual event marked on October 01 with the aim of reflecting on the state of human settlement and basic right to adequate shelter for all.

Source: LENA 18/10/2007