Cape Town - A 67-year old Khayelitsha resident, who had been waiting to receive proof of his property ownership for 29 years, was among the 105 recipients who received their title deeds yesterday.
Goodman Fani, who had his house repossessed by a bank after failing to continue with payments, said his dignity had now been restored.
“We have been in and out of courts for many years fighting for these houses. Eventually I will be able to sleep peacefully at night knowing that there is a piece of paper that guarantees that this property is mine,” he said.
Another beneficiary Buyiswa Sondobo, 55, said she bought her house in 1990, as a legacy for her children.
“But, unfortunately, my husband lost his job as a bricklayer and, as the only person working at that time, could not afford to make payments. The house was then sold without our knowledge and we were evicted. I never knew that this day would come and that we would be assured that no one can now take this house away from us.
“I have been living in the house under tremendous trauma and stress, and my husband died hurting and worried about what will become of us, but I now know that, should I die, my kids will have a home,” said Sondobo.
Human Settlement MEC Tertius Simmers said these families had bought homes to improve the quality of their lives but, for various economic reasons, could not continue paying the balance and, without their knowledge, the houses were sold while the families were still living in them.
“This is to restore the injustices of what happened more than 30 years ago. It has taken too long for the department, but we needed to follow due processes. Last year, we handed over 76 title deeds. Today and tomorrow, 105 title deeds will be handed over and, by the end of March next year, we will conclude all 400 beneficiaries in total,” he said.
Simmers said there were pre-1994 units, which had a substantive title deeds backlog in the province, with some of the beneficiaries having passed away.
“From 1994 until 2014, we have under 70 000 title deeds that we have to address but, ultimately, a lot of these communities were formed without following the due process of township establishment, but we are in the process of finalising that,” he said.