SOCA: City to issue more title deeds to residents 

03 May 2017

 

Johannesburg Executive Mayor Herman Mashaba will in the coming days issue title deeds to more than 1 100 Johannesburg residents to make their home ownership more meaningful.

 

This will bring to 3 900 the number of title deeds issued by Mayor Mashaba since he assumed office following the local government elections in August 2016.

 

To date, the new administration has handed out 2 800 title deeds to beneficiaries.

 

“In the next month, I will be distributing these [1 100] title deeds to beneficiaries from communities including Ivory Park, Pennyville, Lenasia and Rabie Ridge. This is the change we promised our residents when we came into office last year,” Mashaba during his State of the City Address (SOCA) at Metro Centre in Braamfontein today (Wednesday May 3).

 

Mayor Mashaba said failing to address the issue was demonstrated in the 2013-2014 financial year when not a single title deed was issued by the previous administration.

 

“Some have been waiting for decades to own their homes. Title deeds help to restore our people’s dignity by providing them with ownership of property that can be passed on to their children and grandchildren.  Importantly, having a title to a home provides residents with an economic opportunity to better their lives and enter the mainstream economy,” said Mayor Mashaba.

 

He said he was deeply honoured to hand over the first title deed to Anna Dikgale, a 70-year-old widow who has lived in her Diepkloof, Soweto, home since 1963. Dikgale supports and cares for her grandchildren and great grandchildren on a social grant and had been waiting for her title deed since 2007.

 

“Ma Anna represents the story of thousands of people in this city. Over five decades later, Ma Anna has finally been provided with the dignity of her own title deed,” said Mashaba.