Executive Mayor Stellenbosch Municipality – Gesie van Deventer
On Thursday, 21 November 2019, Executive Mayor, Gesie van Deventer handed over 132 title deeds to beneficiaries of historical title deeds from across the Municipal area. The transfer of title deeds is the continuation of a commitment Mayor van Deventer made upon taking office in 2016. Mayor van Deventer said: “ It is truly an honour for me to give these residents the gift of owning their home.
Ownership of your house creates a peace of mind that no money can buy. As a municipality we will continue our efforts to clear the backlog of especially historical title deeds. It is an important step for us in addressing historical inequality and empowering our community”. Including the deeds we are handing over today, we have handed out 530 historical title deeds since August 2016. We have also handed out 890 title deeds for new projects since August 2016.
The handing over ceremony took place at the Stellenbosch Town Hall. This is the fourth and final ceremony for 2019 and brings the number of total title deeds 434 for this year. The beneficiaries of these title deeds come from Klapmuts, Kylemore, Kayamandi and Franschhoek. One of the oldest title deed recipients is No England Ndude aged 82.
Giving the residents ownership of their homes is a priority for the municipality because it helps to redress the injustices of the past. It provides residents with the security and peace of mind that only the ownership of your house can give. Beneficiaries can now use their ownership to access the economic benefits that come with the owning of property. It also gives the owners the freedom to alter and upgrade these properties to their needs, as they were never able to do before.
As it is a costly and time consuming process, the assistance of the Free Market Foundation (FMF) Khaya Lam project, which is funded by the Reinet Foundation, is critical in our success. The Khaya Lam project, with the funding received from the Reinet Foundation, is assisting the municipality by funding the employment of additional temporary administrative support to increase our capacity and speed up the process of transferring registered title deeds. The Rupert family is part of the Reinet Foundation.
The transfer of title deeds also allows the municipality to create employment. While many local governments outsources the verification and occupancy survey process we choose to employ 26 field workers from the region to assist. 19 of our fieldworkers are under 35 and 18 of them are women. They render a valuable service through their knowledge of the communities and they also receive skills and work experience.
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Media queries:
Stuart Grobbelaar T: 021 808 8172 | C: 084 036 1395
Mart-Marié Haasbroek T: 021 808 8024 | C: 072 910 3724
