POLOKO TAU
SOWETO residents are worried that they are yet to be the official owners of houses they have been occupying for decades.
Some said it was worrying that they were spending money on renovating their houses while they had yet to be recognised as the owners by the City of Joburg. Residents said they were still waiting for the council to issue title deeds for the houses, which some have occupied for 70 years or more.
Meshack Lehoka, 73, said he was only five years old when his family moved into the council house in Orlando East 68 years ago. He is the occupant of the same house today but said he had yet to feel the sense of ownership unless his 99-year leasehold was cancelled and replaced with a title deed.
“We registered for this process last year. A year later we’re still waiting. Only a few people in Orlando East have been issued with title deeds in the past year,” Lehoka said.
Another Orlando East resident, Shadrack Styles Sebooa, 60, said he bought a two-room house from the council for R552 on a 99-year leasehold in the late 1970s.
“I have invested in this house through renovations and, like many others in Soweto, I’m worried that I’m still not the official owner. We had expected this to be speedily processed in the new government, but we’re still waiting.”
The DA’s proportional representation councillor in Soweto, Tsepo Mhlongo, said leaseholds were negatively affecting residents. “They can’t get bank loans because they’re not owners of those houses and can’t put them up as collateral,” he said, blaming the council for being slow in “addressing the legacy of apartheid”.
“It takes 18 months for township establishment, but the city has not been able to address the title deed problem in the 17 years of democratic government. We’re talking about townships that have been in existence for about 80 years and residents there are still not the property owners,” he said.
“The backlog in the issuing of title deeds is worrying when security of tenure is so important for our people. Soweto has more than 500 000 households and a large portion of the owners have yet to be declared owners of houses they have occupied for ages.”
The City of Joburg said it had made great strides in handing out title deeds in Soweto. “To date more than 70 000 title deeds have been registered and handed over to beneficiaries,” said spokesman Nthatisi Modingoane.
He said Orlando East had been registered as a farm portion called Klipspruit when people were relocated there from Sophiatown and other areas. It was declared a freehold township on December 9, 2009, and some people had already been issued with title deeds. He could not say how many and from which areas of Soweto.
“The city will continue to transfer thousands of title deeds to new owners who have occupied houses on a long-term basis,” Modingoane said.
City housing spokeswoman Bubu Xuba said the conversion of leaseholds into freehold title deeds had started in almost all areas of Soweto except for Emndeni, Diepkloof zones 1 and 6, Mapetla and some parts of Meadowlands.
“Work in the above areas will start in the next two months, beginning with Emndeni. We are in the process of procurement to acquire the services of conveyancers to assist in this project,” Xuba said.
“It is envisaged that the whole of Soweto should have commenced with the process of converting the leaseholds to freehold by the end of next year. The department will send communication to the affected residents to inform them of such developments.”