Dikgosi pass 50/50 Bill for couples

Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Wednesday July 5, 2017 17:29

 

However, Dikgosi accepted the Deeds Registry Amendment Bill but asked for a clear definition of the customary land grant. The Deeds Registry Act was promulgated in 1960.

Dikgosi heard that over the years there have been challenges experienced in implementation of the Act, such as married persons defrauding their spouses by forging their signatures signifying consent in transactions involving transfer of immovable property. Most of the victims were spouses who were not registered owners and lost dearly during death or divorce.

Maele said the objective of the Bill is therefore to amend the Deeds Registry Act to address the challenges that are faced in the implementation of the Act.

“Tribal land, unlike state land and freehold land, is not registered at the Deeds Registry. The Land Boards have been issuing unregistered certificates of customary grants and land was allocated without records, neither of the landholder nor plot itself.

This will also ensure that financial institutions consider tribal land to be used as collateral in the same way as for plots on freehold and state land,” Maele said.

Maele said this would deter men from selling plots or a house without the consent of their wives through an affidavit. He said the new certificate would include the name of a woman or a man and state the matrimonial regime they entered into.

However, Kgosi Mosadi Seboko said, “My concern with these new amendments is that they do not include Dikgosi and children. We are always presiding over cases where some parents or siblings want to sell a house or plot without considering others. If one parent passes on, he would be able to sell a house or a plot without thinking about children. Dikgosi have been doing a good job by trying to block these kinds of things. But now they would process everything without our knowledge”.

Kgosi Peter Chika III of Chobe said; “These are good developments, but there are loopholes. Like what Kgosi Seboko had said, we are the ones on the ground and we do understand the dynamics of certain families. Some of the families will be left homeless especially those who like money over property.

Some people will be happy to get these title deeds in order to get loans from banks and thereafter they would be failing to pay the banks. People will be left homeless because of these. All these gaps we are talking about should be put into consideration by the Minister”.

Dikgosi learnt that this would afford spouses who are not registered owners the same opportunity that is extended to spouses who are registered owners by providing for endorsement rather than transfer.