Another 52 get title deeds

Fifty-two residents from Tumahole, Parys walked out of the Mosepedi hall as      home-owners last week.
Ngwathe mayor, Joey Mochela presented the full freehold title deeds to people who have been living as tenants in their own homes, sometimes for generations. For them, this first step towards real economic empowerment is a life-changing moment.
The titles presented are the result of a non-partisan partnership between the Ngwathe mayor and officials and the Free Market Foundation’s (FMF) Khaya Lam (My Home) land reform project. The deeds are funded through the generosity of businessess and individuals.
This initiative delivers home ownership to township residents by facilitating the conversion of council-owned rental properties into freehold title – at no cost to the recipients or the local council.
The 1913 Natives Land Act prohibited black South Africans from owning land in so-called ‘white areas’ by restricting land ownership entirely to the ethnic authorities in the reserves, later known as homelands. Black people in the cities thus lived as tenants on municipal property that was later developed into what we now know as townships’.
‘For millions of South Africans, a house is the only asset they will ever own or against which they can borrow money. Lack of capital is the greatest barrier to individual economic progress and prosperity,’ says FMF executive director Leon Louw.
He  says around six million black and coloured families still  live as tenants or without ownership rights in houses they have occupied for years.