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Government should stop abusing title deed handouts to open the doors to get votes for election.

This comes after a last-minute title deed handover ceremony was arranged in Olifantshoek yesterday, whereby COGHSTA MEC, Bentley Vass, allocated 17 title deeds, in what was a clear attempt of the ANC-government to win votes ahead of the polls on 1 November 2021.

Housing is a very real and serious issue.

Many people have been waiting decades to receive title deeds due to them. As small a piece of paper as a title deed may be, it is second of importance only to one’s identity document. Title deeds grant people property rights. They give people the opportunity to own their homes, and to secure a future home for their children.

While there exists a massive title deed backlog in the province, despite many consultants having previously been employed to eradicate this backlog, title deeds in this province are generally only forthcoming into the run-up to elections.

In fact, despite a national title deeds backlog of more than 893 000, the Department of Human Settlements announced that the Title Deeds Restoration Grant will be abolished.

So instead of title deeds being awarded on a daily basis, as they are processed, they have become a scarce commodity, with handovers characterized by political fanfare of the ANC government.

Unlike the ANC, the DA appreciates the value of title deeds and what they mean to their recipients. That is why we will continue to prioritise the delivery of title deeds to previously built and any new, but limited, state-subsidised housing so that recipients have legal ownership of their homes.

More people deserve to own their homes and title deeds are one way in which the DA will work to secure a better future for the people of the Northern Cape, and South Africa.

After all, title deeds are there to give people dignity, not to give the ANC votes.

Issued by DA Constituency Head of Kalahari, Willie Aucamp, MP