AGRICULTURAL NEWS - The Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Ms Thoko Didiza (MP), has met with the Chief Registrar of Deeds and all provincial registrars, to put a concrete plan to address challenges of backlogs in all deeds offices.

The minister’s meeting follows numerous complaints from various stakeholders regarding backlogs and constant closure of deeds offices, according to a statement issued the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.

Didiza is quoted as saying that he understands the importance of deeds offices in the property sector and in the recovery of the economy post COVID-19, but the safety of their employees "will not be compromised". However, they will work hard to reduce the backlog.

The following measures will be put in place urgently to ensure that deeds offices address the entire backlog while continuing to attend to new lodgements:

Examination of Deeds
All examiners will be allowed to do examination of documents at home, to fast track the examination of documents. Registrars have the authority to manage this and should do so, taking all appropriate steps to ensure the safety of the documents as well as steps to avoid fraudulent transactions. There is 30% attendance of staff in the Western Cape deeds office.

The department must ensure that the adjusted level three (3), which no longer requires that there should be 30% of staff be at the office, is implemented with immediate effect. "Labour and staff will be part of the decision-making process, to ensure inclusivity and ownership of this process."

Re-arrangement of offices
All deeds offices will rearrange their offices, to ensure social distancing and safety of staff.

Tools of trade
All officials will be provided with all relevant tools of trade to allow them to work from home.
"In some instances this may not be possible, due to various factors such as where offices are in rural areas and where it is not safe to do so. Registrars must ensure that, despite these challenges, service delivery continues unhindered. Upgrading of deeds offices’ IT system to respond to the 4th industrial revolution is to be prioritised despite budget cuts due to COVID-19," said Didiza.

Closure of offices
He said the department will ensure that the closure of deeds offices is minimised and it is done under extreme circumstances. "Various options will be undertaken, which are not limited to ensuring that decontamination is only done in affected areas and not in the whole building and also to ensure that all officials continue to work while at home."

“We will ensure that all health and safety measures, as stipulated by the departments of Health and Employment and Labour, are adhered to."

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