RAPID progress is being made to survey Epworth, chosen as the pilot scheme for issuing title deeds to householders in irregular settlements, with Rwandan experts now roped in to assist in the digitalisation of the Deeds Office.
President Mnangagwa last year made it Government policy to sort out title deeds for large irregular settlements, with many residents falling victim to land barons.
The work has pushed hard in Epworth and once that is sorted out, the process will spread across the rest of the irregular urban settlements.
Many urban people have been battling for title deeds in irregular settlements and those set up by land barons before the required services were developed. But that has changed with the Second Republic keen to make Zimbabwe an upper-middle-class economy by 2030.
As President Mnangagwa implements a development agenda that leaves no one and no place behind, the title deeds will ensure security and bankability of the properties, and that in turn should allow the registered property owners to raise funds for development of their areas.
The preparation of title deeds for thousands of residents of Epworth, Zimbabwe’s fifth largest urban council area and larger in terms of population than most cities, has started in earnest with the local authority yesterday saying the process is progressing smoothly while compilation of names of beneficiaries is underway.
Economist and former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Monetary Policy Committee member, Mr Eddie Cross, who is involved in the project, said it will be a game-changer.
“Following the decision by the President back in December 2021, we have been preparing the ground to start issuing title deeds to those individuals who built homes on land which does not belong to them.
“The Rwandese are involved and are helping us technically. They are helping us to digitalise the Deeds Office which is part of the process,” he said.
“They are also showing us how to do the exercise in the field which they have been able to manage since their President Paul Kagame came to power. We are riding on their technical background and knowledge in this whole operation.”
Mr Cross said 90 percent of the land in Epworth is State land and the President has expressed his desire to give a deed of grant to each resident. A deed of grant is the initial title deed, with all future deeds for the same stand being deeds of transfer as ownership changes.
“This is quite a process; it involves doing a layout plan for each of these informal urban settlements. This is followed by identifying the individual plots involved and beneficiaries who are attached to each of those plots.
“What comes next is the process of actually giving each beneficiary family the deed of grants and that will be followed at a later stage with the title deed once the plots themselves have been fully serviced,” he said.
Mr Cross said the cost of issuing title deeds will be levied on the account of the beneficiaries who will be funded by means of a bond over the property which they now own.
“They will not be allowed to transfer the property or to sell it until such a time when the property has been properly serviced.
“But even with the simple act of providing urban security of tenure through the deed of grant, we will be creating a billion (in US dollars) of urban property value,” he said.
Epworth Local Board chairperson councillor Gift July said the process of issuing title deeds was fast becoming a reality.
“We are progressing well with the preparation for title deeds in Epworth.
“At the moment the council is compiling names of beneficiaries,” he said. – The Herald
