Infrastructure
Question by:
Hon Dirk Wessels
Answered by:
Hon Tertuis Simmers
Question Number:
34
Question Body:
(a) How many title deeds have been formally handed over to beneficiaries in each district of the province in the (i) 2024/25 and (ii) 2025/26 financial year and (b) what measures are in place to ensure the timely handover of title deeds to beneficiaries?
Answer Body:
- The registration of transfer of title to beneficiaries continues with 4 166 transfers from the Department and municipalities being registered from 1 April 2025 to date. In the previous (2024/2025) financial year, 6 515 transfers were recorded. The drive towards providing ownership of property to qualifying beneficiaries and approved occupants continues to be advanced by the Department to address the outstanding registrations in the Province. However, the Provincial Department can report only on the physical handing over of title deeds to the rightful transferee in projects and areas where it was responsible for the development and ownership of the area. To this end, the Provincial Department formally handed over 498 title deeds to the rightful beneficiaries in the 2024/2025 financial year and 172 during the 2025/2026 financial year. Municipally driven projects and municipally owned properties that have been transferred are not within the ambit of this administration. This information is held by each municipal administration and the figures in this regard must be reported by the municipality.
- Once title deeds are received from the State Attorney the new owners are contacted telephonically to advise them that the title deed is ready for collection for which they must sign. On Departmental Projects, attempts to hand over title deeds are initially made by contacting beneficiaries telephonically for collection as is done for most projects. This is followed up by on-site visits to the properties of beneficiaries who have not come forward to collect them. Long overdue title deeds, which remain uncollected from the Department, are advertised in local newspapers. Following this, the title deeds are made available at public venues, such as community halls, during the advertised dates, usually over weekends. Unclaimed title deeds are held in a vault within the Department. Adverts are then placed in local newspapers for collection from the Department. In certain cases, a title deed handover ceremony is held in which case the title deeds are issued through this ceremonial process.
Date:
Friday, March 6, 2026
