Cape Town – The Free State Department of Human Settlements received a special mention in parliament this week for its efforts to eradicate the title deed backlog in the province.
The Free State is among only three provinces – with the Northern Cape and Eastern Cape – that have reached their target to issue title deeds to RDP home owners for the first quarter of the 2016/2017 financial year.
According to a presentation by the national Department of Human Settlements during a meeting of parliament’s oversight committee, the Free State provincial department processed and issued more than 3 000 title deeds, exceeding its target of 2 400 for this period. This brings the number of title deeds still outstanding to approximately 78 000.
More than 31 000 title deeds are still to be processed in the Northern Cape and the province managed to process and issue only 900.
Courant/Cathy Dlodlo
