Residents previously denied property ownership receive title deeds to their homes

Redress and reconciliation have been among hallmarks of the City of Cape Town administration in order to correct the wrongs of the Apartheid government.

One of the ways in which this caring city has addressed the imbalances of the past is through providing property ownership to residents who were previously denied this right.

It gave me pleasure to join councillors in Area Central to handover title deeds to residents from Athlone, Gugulethu, Uitsig, Nyanga, Manenberg, Hanover Park and Kalksteenfontein.

Many of these beneficiaries have waited more than two decades to have ownership of the houses they have lived in for years.

One of the beneficiaries Mary Fredericks, who is 85 years old, has been waiting for more than 20 years to have ownership of her own house.

Aunty Mary is partially blind and deaf. She never gave up on her dream to have that house registered in her name.

Mrs Fredericks and her daughter will finally rest easy knowing they are the rightful owners of the property they occupy. 

It was also wonderful to rejoice with Arthur and Maria Botha who also after 20 years of waiting have the title deed to their home. Mr Botha is suffering from Parkinson’s disease and I’m really happy that he has come to end of the journey to have ownership of his home. 

It was an honour for me to celebrate with Aunty Mary, as well as Mr and Mrs Botha because their stories are an inspiration and a triumph against injustice. 

They are among the millions of people whose heritage was nearly destroyed by the Apartheid government as they were forcibly removed from their homes and some families separated.

The apartheid regime took away people’s rights to dignity and ownership as people of colour were not allowed to own property. When we were elected into government we made a commitment to change that, and to undo the wrongs of the past through redress and reconciliation.

Giving residents a title deed to the homes represents justice whilst also restoring their dignity.

It is our job as the City to make sure that more people taste the fruits of our democracy by reversing the legacy of apartheid and giving people rights to tenure.

In this regard, we have over the last year ramped up the process of handing title deeds to residents so that the homes can officially be theirs.

Since November, in Area Central this administration has issued just over 500 title deeds.

This was in addition to the 4 330 title deeds handed out to residents across the City during the 2017/18 financial year.

For the 2016/17 financial year, the City dispensed 1 182 title deeds to residents in historical housing projects and 760 title deeds to residents living in Council saleable rental stock.

This is building on the legacy from our first term of office between 2011 and 2016 when more than 11 000 title deeds were issued to residents.

The project of redress remains one of the priorities of this administration and officials are working hard to ensure they trace the beneficiaries of hundreds of title deeds currently in the City’s possession.

Statement issued by Xolani Koyana, Spokesperson for the Executive Mayor – Patricia de Lille, City of Cape Town, 25 September 2018