Get your title deed; guarantee your ownership
Published: February 07, 2023<< BACK TO NEWS
Hundreds of subsidy housing beneficiaries in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality today expressed joy and a sense of relief when they received housing title deeds to affirm their ownership rights to their homes.
This comes as the City kick-started the 2023 title deeds hand over programme in Motherwell. In Motherwell alone a total of 1788 titles have not been collected. While a total of 98278 subsidy housing beneficiaries have recently collected their title deeds, the City still has 6535 of uncollected titles.
NMBM Human Settlements Mayoral Committee, Cllr Tukela Zumani said the City was on a drive to ensure that owners had their titles to restore their dignity and take away any uncertainty.
"Last year we employed workers through EPWP to actually go door-to-door to verify and tell the owners that their titles are available and from that we have received a lot of useful data. There are many reasons why we have thousands of these titles, and they include the fact that a lot of the people that own the houses don’t live in them. People have to collect their titles because they are available but you find that people are not aware of such information due to the fact that the process between getting approval and getting the house is long and sometimes there is a lot of verification that takes place to ensure that we have the correct owners. Some of the owners are deceased but their families can actually have the titles,” Zumani said.
He added that "in the case of deceased beneficiaries a family member can collect the title deed provided they have a Letter of Authority from the Master of the High Court to do so”.
Uncollected title deeds per areas are as follows:
- Despatch: 43
- Ibhayi area: 751
- KwaNobuhle: 2311
- Motherwell: 1788
- Nothern Areas: 832
- Uitenhage: 587
- Walmer: 301
Resident Sindiswa Bishini, 60, said she was overjoyed to finally have proof that her house belongs to her.
"It is such a relief to finally have this piece of paper. I can die in peace and leave my children with something tangible so that they don’t struggle when I die. We often see disputes in families and in our communities and title deeds assist to resolve such fights. As owners of these houses, it is only fair that we also have official documents to prove such just like other property owners. Today our dignity has been restored,” Bishini said.
On 8 February 2023, NMBM will take the programme to Walmer in John Masiza Primary School from 12pm and KwaNobuhle on 9 February 2023 at Babs Madlikane Hall from 10am.
To collect title deeds, owners are required to produce Identity Documents as proof of ownership, or in the case of a deceased beneficiary, a Letter of Authority is needed. Members of the public are also encouraged to visit the Municipal offices, 8th Floor Starport Building, 140 Goven Mbeki Avenue, Gqeberha, 6000, and contact Mssrs. E. Greeff and K. Giagas during normal working hours.
Issued on behalf of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality by Media Liaison Officer, Mamela Ndamase.
For more information contact 0760254692 or mndamase@mandelametro.gov.za
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