Nedbank has partnered with the Free Market Foundation’s Khaya Lam Land Reform Project to help enable hundreds of families to go from being tenants to homeowners through the transfer of title deeds.
According to Thozama Mochadibane, Head: Customer Delight at Nedbank Home Loans, the bank’s support of the Khaya Lam (my home) initiative is a demonstration of its commitment to delivering on its purpose to use its financial expertise to do good for individuals, families, businesses and communities.
“Property ownership is a vital cornerstone of personal wellbeing and wealth creation,” Mochadibane explains.
The Khaya Lam project has the ultimate goal of transferring between five- and seven million title deeds from the councils that currently own rental properties to the individuals and families who are renting them.
While many of these families have the right to request that their ownership status of these properties be upgraded to full freehold title, the process is typically very lengthy, complicated and often too expensive for most of the parties involved.
The project has already resulted in the successful transfer of 1 860 homes in Ngwathe, effectively removing the onerous usage restrictions these tenants have had to live under and significantly transforming their lives and futures as the new owners.
“The success already achieved with the pilot project offers proof of the viability of the Khaya Lam initiative as a way of facilitating large-scale transfers of title deeds,” Mochadibane says, “and Nedbank’s financial support of the project will help secure the transfer of at least another 100 title deeds, thereby ensuring that full ownership of these properties is handed over to their occupants early in 2019.
The primary objective of the Land Reform Project is to reverse the widespread impact of the 1913 Land Act, which effectively banned black South Africans from owning land.
There was a large contingent of Nedbank personnel present, headed by Greg Salter, Head of Home Loans.Tumo Mohano who is the local Nedbank Branch Manager described the event as a life-changing experience.
