Cowdray Park residents to get title deeds soon

COWDRAY Park residents in Bulawayo will be issued with title deeds for their properties "very soon", Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has said.

It will become the second suburb to benefit from the Presidential Title Deed and Settlement Regularisation Programme following its successful launch in Epworth on April 22, where 265 title deeds of the 11 200 that had been processed were personally handed over to beneficiaries by President Mnangagwa.

The initiative, which seeks to facilitate issuance of title to homeowners in irregular settlements, is part of a broader programme geared towards regularising informal settlements.

Minister Ziyambi, who is leading the high-level inter-ministerial committee on the regularisation of settlements, said the programme will be extended to more settlements throughout the country in the coming months.

"The programme is work in progress," he said.

"His Excellency President Mnangagwa's desire is to ensure the regularisation of informal settlements.

"Very soon, we will be in Bulawayo, in Cowdray Park, to issue title deeds to some of the residents.

"It is a national programme, where we want to regularise and unlock value, and that is what His Excellency the President is doing."

The programme, he said, will also cover old suburbs such as Highfield, where some homeowners have gone for decades without holding title to their properties.

"We need to ensure that they verify everything so that the title deeds are not issued to the wrong person," said Minister Ziyambi.

"So, it involves going to the local authority and checking if the title deed applicant is the right owner of the property and then prepare all the requisite paperwork."

Acting director of spatial planning and development in the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works Mr Honesty Magaya said residents living in irregular settlements will be prioritised.

"We have already given the list of suburbs we want regularised to the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education (Innovation, Science and Technology Development)," he said.

"Regularisation will also entail relocating people in some of these settlements, so those who agree to such arrangements will be considered first."

About 15 urban settlements countrywide are undergoing aerial mapping to ascertain the number of properties for which title deeds should be issued this year.

The first batch of title deeds are being issued to households in areas where houses were built on undesignated land, while the second phase will cover other residential areas built legally.

Suburbs covered under the first phase include Epworth, Eyecourt, Retreat, Caledonia and Hopley in Harare; Chiedza Farm and Gimboki Farm (Mutare); Cowdray Park (Bulawayo); and Victoria Range (Masvingo).