For more than 30 years a Soshanguve resident Melta Mahashe, 65, has been patiently waiting for a title deed of a property she acquired before the 1994 democratic election.

Yesterday, Mahashe could not contain her joy during a ceremony held by the Gauteng Human Settlements and Infrastructure Development Department at the township’s Extension One to hand over title deeds to more than 500 residents.

“I am over the moon. I am so happy that I at last have a title deed. I have been worried that I would one day be buried without it,” she said.

She said many promises made in the past to hand over title deeds to residents amounted to nothing and she even lost hope to obtain one before her passing.

“I was most worried that I would leave behind my four children without a title deed. I was also worried that after my death they would start fighting over the property,” she said.

Mahashe moved to the place in the early 90s and she remembered that she “voted from here during the first democratic elections in the country”.

Speaking to the media Department MEC Lebogang Maile said handing over title deeds was a continuous process which was also beset by some backlogs.

He also shot down suggestions that the issuing of 555 title deeds to qualifying beneficiaries was part of the government's election campaign before the upcoming national elections.

He said those holding a view that title deeds were used as bait to attract votes were lazy thinkers

Some of the 555 title deeds recepients at Soshan yesterday. Jacques Naude / Independent Newspapers

“We are not starting to give people title deeds now. It is good now that we have social media. So, you can just go on my timeline now. Since 2019 we have been giving out title deeds. There were no elections. It is a tired and lazy kind of thinking. Even if there were elections today we would still be giving title deeds. Are you saying when there are elections people should not be given services?” he said.

Earlier on Maile visited the under-construction Refitlhile Primary School in the area to check on the progress of the R104 million project after it missed a deadline for completion last year.

MEC Lebogang Maile at Refitlhilepele Primary School in Soshanguve, which is under construction. Jacques Naude / Independent Newspapers

Work at the school began in September 2021 and it included refurbishment of existing structures and erecting more classrooms and facilities such as sporting field and nutrition centre.

Maile said a deadline was missed owing to several challenges related to water and continuous disruptions caused by “construction mafias”.

“This place is waterlogged and they had to come up with a solution to deal with water and soil erosion. And, finally, they were able to deal with it. If they didn’t deal with it it would mean that it was going to be a recurring problem that was going to create structural problems in the school,” he said.

He said disruptions by construction mafias eventually subsided and local contractors and labourers were hired for the project.

In terms of the projections by the contractor, the project will be finished by the end of April this year.

Learners were relocated to an adjacent school, where the government put temporary classrooms to accommodate them.

The school consists of an early childhood development centre, lower primary, and higher primary.

Maile said: “There is a shower for kids and a sporting facility; so this is a state-of-the-art school. We are building schools that have some amenities that private schools are having.”

Pretoria News

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Smiles and joy as township dwellers get title deeds