It has been quite a year for residents in Stellenbosch, hundreds of families received security in the form of title deeds, the latest batch saw 132 people get theirs.
Stellenbosch, South Africa – On the 21st of November, the executive mayor of Stellenbosch, Gesie van Deventer, handed over 132 title deeds to families that have been waiting for years. These title deeds are known as “historical title deeds”.
In a press release from the executive mayor’s office, they confirmed this project had been Mayor van Deventer’s priority since taking office on 2016. Since the beginning, the mayor has handed over 530 historical title deeds and 890 deeds for new projects.
“It is truly an honour for me to give these residents the gift of owning their home. Ownership of your house creates a peace of mind that no money can buy. As a municipality, we will continue our efforts to clear the backlog of, especially historical title deeds. It is an important step for us in addressing historical inequality and empowering our community” – Gesie van Deventer, Executive Mayor of Stellenbosch.
The handover ceremony was the final one for 2019 and saw some genuinely heartwarming dreams come true. This ceremony, the oldest recipient of a title deed was 82-year-old No England Ndude. He was one of many who spent his entire life unsure if his home would ever be his. The communities where beneficiaries reside included Klapmuts, Kylemore, Kayamandi and Franschhoek.
The title deed project is done to redress the injustice of the past. As Mayor van Deventer mentioned above, receiving the deeds bring about a peace of mind that was never there before.
‘Beneficiaries can now use their ownership to access the economic benefits that come with the owning of property. It also gives the owners the freedom to alter and upgrade these properties to their needs, as they were never able to do before.’
‘As it is a costly and time-consuming process, the assistance of the Free Market Foundation (FMF) Khaya Lam project, which is funded by the Reinet Foundation, is critical in our success. The Khaya Lam project, with the funding received from the Reinet Foundation, is assisting the municipality by funding the employment of additional temporary administrative support to increase our capacity and speed up the process of transferring registered title deeds. The Rupert family is part of the Reinet Foundation.’
‘The transfer of title deeds also allows the municipality to create employment. While many local governments outsource the verification and occupancy survey process, we choose to employ 26 field workers from the region to assist. Nineteen of our field workers are under 35, and 18 of them are women. They render a valuable service through their knowledge of the communities, and they also receive skills and work experience.’
Take a look at some of the happy recipients below.
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