Government Reneges On Title Deeds Pledge
The government has stated that it will not issue title deeds for unserviced stands, including those in Epworth, Harare, despite President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s promise to do so ahead of the August 2023 harmonized elections, reported NewsDay.
Mnangagwa pledged to issue more than 11,000 title deeds to Epworth residents a month before the polls.
The Cabinet then endorsed the Kwangu/Ngakwami Presidential Title Deeds Programme Consortium, a programme expected to provide the financial and technical support required for the issuance of the title deeds.
Mnangagwa later handed out 265 securitised title deeds to selected Epworth residents when he launched the programme at Epworth High School.
On Wednesday, some members of the National Assembly asked Housing and Social Amenities Minister Zhemu Soda to explain the government’s position on the issuance of title deeds in urban areas. Said Soda:
The ministry, in partnership with the private sector, is working to ensure that allocated stands that are yet to be serviced are regularised through the user principle.
The beneficiaries in those areas are expected to pay for certain services to ensure that the road infrastructure, water and sewage reticulation are in place. Without proper servicing of these stands, the government cannot issue title deeds.
This is what the government is trying to regularise so that this leads to the occupants receiving title deeds to use as collateral for loans…
We would want to ensure that the settlement is good and people can be given deeds for occupancy of such an area.
Critics accuse ZANU PF of using land as a campaign tool ahead of elections and then forget about its promises once victory has been achieved.
Notably, the ZANU PF-led government has been reluctant to give 99-year leases to beneficiaries of the land reform programme, making them perennial tenants on the land they are occupying.
More: Pindula News
