The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality handed over title deeds to subsidy house beneficiaries across the metro on Thursday, February 8.
The handover to beneficiaries of Ward 44 in Kariega, and kwaNobuhle is part of a campaign that was launched by the minister of Human Settlements, Mmamoloko Kubayi, in October last year.
The objective of the campaigns is to make sure that all government housing beneficiaries receive their title deeds, to confirm or prove ownership of the property. This will not only bring dignity to the housing beneficiaries who never owned a formal property in their lives, but it will also go as far as securing a home for their children. This will also mitigate corruption and mismanagement in the housing handover system, since in the past houses were occupied by unapproved persons.
The title deed handover project of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has committed to issue out title deeds every week. More than 300 hundred title deeds are handed over monthly. The directorate has also embarked on an aggressive awareness campaign to make the public aware of the need and importance of collecting the title deeds.
One of the beneficiaries, Lubabalo Oliphant, said he was delighted to finally receive his tittle deed.
“Before I got a house I was moving in and out of rental properties without any security of tenure. Now that I have a shelter that belongs to me, my children will also benefit from it when I am no longer alive. They will have a place to stay and not end up on the streets or charity homes,” said Oliphant.
Ward councillor, Luzuko Ndamase, said he was encouraging residents to respond in numbers when the metro brings title deeds.
Beneficiaries do not have to wait for the Title Deed Handover events; they can collect their title deeds from the Human Settlements Directorate offices in Govan Mbeki Avenue. They must bring with them their ID, spouse ID and marriage certificate, or letter of authority, and death certificate if the owner is no longer alive.
