Celebrations for RDP house-owners

Tontsi said the city was still in the process of auditing RDP beneficiaries to ascertain if the rightful owners were occupying their homes.

She was at the Walmer High School sports grounds where, together with Bay mayor Danny Jordaan, they handed over deeds to home-owners who had waited years to finally get the documents.

“We are begging you, don’t sell these houses because you now have title deeds,” Tontsi said.

“If you do that, you will continue to be a burden on government and want another house.”

Tontsi said many owners of RDP houses in the city did not have title deeds.

Since August 2014, the city had been auditing RDP houses to verify whether the rightful owners were the occupants.

The ongoing audit had proved that many RDP houses were being rented out or the rightful owners had died.

In many cases, the occupants could not provide proof of ownership, and in others, two families were each claiming ownership of the same house.

Tontsi said having title deeds would finally give Walmer township residents a sense of ownership and curb the illegal occupation of houses.

But not all 463 title-deed owners were present at the event.

Having waited for more than 10 years to get a title deed, Jane Koester said she finally felt confident when she received her title deed yesterday.

“I was always worried when I hear stories about people being evicted, thinking that could happen to me.

“Now I have a title deed and I am the rightful owner of my house,” Koester said.

The Area O resident, 54, vowed not to sell her house.

“That house will be my children’s inheritance. I can never sell it. I feel proud because I have proof today that it is mine,” Koester said. About 200 residents attended. Asked why it had taken so long for residents to be given their title deeds, Jordaan said the metro was correcting the wrongs and making them right.

“It is never too early or too late to do the right thing.

“The question is: are we doing the right thing? Obviously we are, and that is what is important for me,” Jordaan said.

He said while the audit to verify RDP houses occupancy was continuing, the metro would hand over title deeds in other areas in the city.

Tontsi said the title deeds would restore the residents’ dignity.

“We understand that in the past, as black people, you did not own land. You were always renting but now when you have a house and a title deed you have dignity,” she said.

“You can now go to the bank and borrow money and use your house as collateral. That is something we did not have before 1994,” Tontsi told residents.