Cllr Patel accused of failing in his deeds…Patel accused of demanding 50k to speed up process for obtaining title deeds
Despite South Africans receiving political freedom more than 30 years ago and protected by one of the world’s best constitutions in theory, many South Africans believe that they are worse of now than even during the dark years of apartheid, due to the failures under the present ANC-led government.
As unemployment rises, especially among the youth, to more than 59%, crime including a murder rate of 64 per day is reaching unacceptable heights (according to the latest national stats), educational levels are dropping, health sectors falling, etc, etc and South Africans are clearly becoming more and more frustrated with the ANC as leaders in government.
Locally, service delivery by the ANC led Tshwane Council is fast becoming a disaster, as many politicians seem to be more interested in first filling their pockets and big bellies and then throwing the left over crumbs to the poor. In one of the recent complaints received from the community concerning poor service delivery by the Tshwane Council, shockingly the most vulnerable in our community, the aged pensioners, have still after years of promises, not received the title deeds to their homes. Despite their title deeds, supposed to be their basic right and pride and which they could place as security to get small loans to start a business or do some renovations to their home, yet they have been deprived, by the very same politicians who dance to the slogan of ‘serving the people first.’ The Laudium Sun has recently been approached by many residents from Laudium’s neglected area, White Blocks, expressing their anger over broken promises by Councillor Patel regarding their house title deeds, which have been pending for many years, seemingly with no hope in sight.
One of these residents, pensioner Kulsim Mahmood of Jacinth Street in Laudium, told the Laudium Sun, “I applied for this flat in 1982 and received it in 1991, before the ANC came into power. Since then, I have still not received my title deed to the house. The government gave us two options back then; to move to Lotus Gardens or to buy the land where the TMS School is currently located. Eventually, they built these flats for us here in White Blocks under the free housing scheme. I attended a housing scheme meeting in March this year, which was conducted by Councillor Naeem Patel. He promised us that we would receive our title deeds soon. However, when we followed up, he said all the paperwork had been done by someone named Rakesh from the City of Tshwane, who has since left his job. Now they claim they can’t locate the documents needed to finalise our title deeds. This is extremely frustrating. Many residents like me have been waiting for over 40 years, and still we ask: Where are our title deeds?
What’s worse is that when I met Councillor Patel again, he told me that if I wanted to speed up the process, I would need to pay R50,000. He said if I had the money, I could get the title deeds quickly. But these deeds are supposed to be free—why should we pay? It’s very upsetting to hear such things from a public official. He even told me that title deeds aren’t important to him because he has more pressing matters. I was shocked by his dismissive attitude.”
The frustrated pensioner added, “At one point, I was injured after being bumped by a Laudium Police vehicle and I sought help from Councillor Patel. He told me he doesn’t work for the SAPS or the CPF, so he couldn’t help me. I thought, as our Councillor and community leader, he would support us, especially as he always seems to be working with the CPF. But I was wrong. All we are asking for now is our title deeds. We’ve waited long enough and we don’t know how much longer we have to live. Seeing that Councillor Patel has not helped, we are appealing to someone in the community to help us.”
Lalieta Pillay Budhia, another resident of Jacinth Street in Laudium, told the Laudium Sun, “I received this flat from the previous government under the free housing scheme in 1990. Since then, I have been waiting for the house title deeds and to this day, I still haven’t received it. Councillor Patel has made many promises, but none of them have materialised. Every time we ask about the title deeds, he tells us the Municipality doesn’t have the funds to issue them. It’s frustrating and disgusting. We were given these homes for free by the previous government—so why are we still waiting for the title deeds, after all these years? It’s been decades now and it’s absolutely insane. We don’t even know how much longer we have to wait just to receive the legal proof of ownership of our own homes.”
has been waiting for her house title deeds
since 1990.
Eosin Street, White Blocks, resident, Majory Hassim, told the Laudium Sun, “We’ve been waiting for our house title deeds for over 30 years and to this day, nothing has been fulfilled by the Council. Last year, the flat we live in was badly burned and all Councillor Naeem Patel gave us was a food hamper. I had to repair everything in the house myself—from the ceiling to the windows. It’s terrible how Councillor Patel has failed us like this. We approached him again as without our title deeds, we can’t claim insurance or even sell our homes. But instead of financial help to repair the damage, all we received was another food parcel. I’m really exhausted. I don’t want more excuses or empty promises from Naeem Patel—I just want my title deeds. That’s all we’re asking for: what was promised to us. We want our house title deeds.”
Clement Khureshi of Eosin Street, told the Laudium Sun, “Naeem Patel seems more interested in serving his own interests, than in helping the community. We’ve been waiting for our house title deeds since 1980 and all we’ve received are empty promises—nothing has come through. I feel stuck. If I want to take a loan or even repair this house, I can’t do it because we don’t have the official title deeds. This is especially difficult for residents living in the White Blocks. We feel completely neglected. If this was a case from Erasmia or a more affluent area, Naeem would have taken care of it immediately. But because we come from a poorer part of Laudium, he just doesn’t seem to care anymore. We want our title deeds as soon as possible. We can’t wait any longer.”
While Patel’s Ward Committee and ‘his’ so called Ward 61 Residents Association have not been heard from on this matter, the recently launched interim ‘Concerned Community Forum’ said that they are appalled at the way the most vulnerable of our society are being treated.
The forum’s Zakira Bhika told the Laudium Sun, “We received a complaint from one of the residents of White Blocks about her waiting for the title deeds of her house for more than 30 years. We are shocked that our elders are being made beggars by the Tshwane Council and politicians. Many of us know the value of a title deed, that it does not only give a sense of security, but also opens doors of opportunities, like getting a bank loan to start a small business or paying for ones child’s education, or extending a home to get a tenant for extra income. Now these pensioners are not only deprived of these opportunities, but it seems that the government wants them to remain poor and depend on grants. That is not only humiliating for them, but gross on the part of government. We will certainly raise this issue with the Tshwane Mayor and demand an immediate solution.”
*Attempts to get hold of Naeem Patel for comment were unsuccessful.