Title deeds a way out of poverty for 220 000 GP families
Note to editors: The following speech was delivered at the DA's Rally for Title Deeds and Quality Housing at Homemakers in Jabavu, Soweto, this morning. Maimane outlined his Pledge to accelerate the rollout of title deeds to state-subsidized housing beneficiaries. The full Pledge to the People document which includes the DA's Gauteng housing policy is available here.
Democrats today we are here to launch a policy that can change the prospects of 220 000 families in Gauteng.
Gauteng is 95% urban and therefore we must talk about urban land reform.
Today we launch a policy that will open a pathway for these families to access the economy and build better lives for themselves and their children.
Growing up in Dobsonville, Soweto, the odds were against family and especially against my future. We lived in a four room house under the oppressive system of Apartheid.
But we had a title deed for that home. Against that title deed, my parents could borrow money. They could invest in their property and extend their economic power beyond what was available to them at the time.
With that investment, against property my parents owned, I was able to take opportunities in education through my hard work in school. In many ways I am thankful for the equity that title deed created.
In Gauteng, over 220 000 families who have received state-subsidized housing do not have title deeds. These families are unable to invest in their properties, purchase a second property or access the R20 billion in mortgage finance that has already been issued to title deeds holders because government is too slow in delivering this important document to them.
In fact the place where gather today is a prime example of the impact a title deed has on families. At Homemakers in Jabavu Soweto a title deed dispute with the City of Joburg means that nearly 300 families are unable to invest in their properties because they don't have security.
Here people live in fear of the red ants who can evict them at any time because the City has other intentions for this land. This property was once a place of flourishing small businesses but due to fear and instability these enterprises are no more. Even the basic right to electricity is being denied to these families.
We must do things differently to help these families. The DA is a party with an incredible record of title deed rollout where we govern.
Under the ANC, the backlog of title deeds for families had steadily risen in the Western Cape to 36%. In just one term in office we reduced that by nearly 10 percentage points to 27%.
Everywhere I go in Gauteng people tell me of the pain they feel at the lack of communication around housing. They don't know who will get houses, who got the tender, and when they will get their title deed. That is what life is like under Jacob Zuma's ANC in Gauteng.
That is why the focus of the Housing policy we launch today is -
- Accelerating the rollout of title deeds to state-subsidized housing beneficiaries
- Making Housing Demand Databases public to reduce corruption in the allocation of homes
- Getting rid of corrupt housing contractors who build poor quality housing by opening tender committees so that the public can see who is awarded housing tenders
People must own the land they live on. That is the passport to participation in the economy that hundreds of thousands of families in Gauteng are waiting for.
Housing is in fact directly related to job creation, because it is central to people starting businesses, getting loans and participating in growing the economy.
On 7 May we can vote for this change. We can vote for change that brings jobs and title deeds and against 5 more years of housing corruption and unemployment under Jacob Zuma's ANC.
Statement issued by Mmusi Maimane, DA Gauteng Premier Candidate, March 31 2014
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