Pensioners to Receive Title Deeds in Ebenezer, Vredendal | Western Cape Government

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Pensioners to Receive Title Deeds in Ebenezer, Vredendal

3 February 2016

Western Cape Human Settlement Minister Bonginkosi Madikizela will hand over 85 title deeds in Ebenezer, Vredendal on 04 February 2016. Thirty four (34) of the title deeds will be handed to pensioners, two of which are 85 years old.

The title deeds handover is part of the department’s strategic goals of prioritising elderly people receiving houses and inculcate a sense of ownership and responsibility among housing beneficiaries. Through receiving the deeds, beneficiaries are formally empowered as home owners. The beneficiaries have been living on the land yet haven’t yet had the functional security of tenure.

The name Ebenezer is of biblical origin which means “stone of help”. In 1889 the land was handed over to the Dutch Reformed Church to be held in trust for the community. The Olifantsrivier Irrigation Scheme (Act no 5 of 1912) and the implementation of the scheme in 1917 included Ebenezer. Through a land swap (Act 14 of 1925) the land was taken away from Ebenezer and compensatory land provided. This issue now forms part of a Land Claim by the community, which still has to be settled.

Over a period of four years the department has handed over 76 title deeds to the beneficiaries and according to institutional knowledge there hasn’t been any title deeds handed over in this community by the minister’s predecessors in the past 10 years.

There are 200 properties left in this project that will be transferred in 2016. This total excludes any other unregistered properties in the broader Ebenezer area.

Venue: Ebenezer Community Hall
Date: 04 February 20016
Time: 12:00 to 14:00

Media Enquiries: 

Zalisile Mbali – Spokesperson for Minister Bonginkosi Madikizela
Tel: 021 483 4798
Cell: 078 600 7729
E-mail: Zalisile.Mbali@westerncape.gov.za