Image for illustrative purposes. Picture: iStock
The Gauteng Department of Human Settlements (GDHS) is struggling to make a dent in the housing backlog.
Human settlements MEC Tasneem Motara elaborated on the backlog and the rate at which title deeds were being issued in a written response to the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.
Democratic Alliance (DA) Shadow MEC for Human Settlements Mervyn Cirota posed the question, stating this week that the documents were the cornerstone of personal economic stability.
Motara confirmed that in the last five years, 32 002 title deeds had been issued and that the department has 3 372 title deeds ready and awaiting issuance to their owners.
Despite this, the MEC admitted that the backlog in Gauteng sat at an estimated 160 000 recipients who had been expecting RDP housing since 1994, while 12 000 had been waiting since before 1994.
The MEC cited outstanding town planning milestones, townships that have not been formalised, land availability and completed houses occupied by unlawful occupants as reasons for slow progress.
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Some of these recipients had been given homes built by the government, but the title deeds for those properties have not been issued as they were built on land that had not been fully registered with the relevant municipality.
Motara said the provincial government had spent R66 million on providing the recipients with title deeds, but that amount excluded township formalisation processes, dispute resolution and other auxiliary services.
Cirota expressed his belief that there were multiple reasons for the backlog, mainly a lack of communication, oversight and stable leadership.
“It is rooted in historical incompetence and silo mentality both within the deeds office and the responsible municipalities,’ Cirota told The Citizen.
Stressing how these documents potentially laid the foundation for economic growth, he urged officials to fast-track the process.
“A responsible government would understand that title deeds provide security of tenure,” stated Cirota.
“It also makes it easy for the owner to pass the ownership to his or her children and the future generations to come,” he explained.
The DA said it would bring the matter before the provincial human settlements committee. However, Motara did mention the current interventions.
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The MEC replied that the provincial department had asked municipalities to waive some requirements to allow registrations, on the condition that work such as the completion of general plans be allowed to be completed at a later date.
“GDHS approved the regularisation policy in October 2022 to attend to occupants that do not have approved housing subsidies,” stated Motara.
“However, the policy must be adopted by the national department, [which] has sent the proposal to the state law advisor for consideration,” she added.
Cirota had further plans in mind, suggesting: “Assess the outstanding deeds awaiting registration, their progress and possible solutions to accelerate the process.”
“[We need] a complete staff overhaul and audit within the department and a historical forensic and operational audit of governance and operations within the department,” Cirota concluded.
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