Speech by Honourable George Mokgoro during the debate on the report on Deeds Registries Amendment Bill
26 October 2010
Chairperson
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read the statement regarding the Registry Amendment Bill, Tuesday 26 October 2010, in the NCOP. Chairperson of the NCOP, the Chief Whip, the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform in absentia, MECs, who I do not see any of them here and Honourable members of this distinguished house, this afternoon I have been given the opportunity to share with the House some of the deliberations that the Select Committee on Land and Environmental Affairs had on the Deeds Registries Amendment Bill [B 13 - 2010] National Assembly - Sec 75, that was introduced by the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, to Parliament in August this year.
For you information Honourable members, the Deeds Registries Amendment Bill is the legislation that governs the Deeds Registries Act, No. 47 1937, which is responsible for the registration of deeds. In South Africa the law does not explicitly guarantee titles to land. The systems of deeds registration is based on the juristic foundation and long standing practices and procedures. It is this system which has the effect of guaranteeing titles.
The main purpose for amending the Bill was to substitute certain obsolete expressions and to enhance the application of the Act to conform to the current uniform practices of the deeds registries.
Therefore, the process that the Select Committee on Land and Environmental Affairs followed for processing this section 75 Bill was the same as that followed by the Sectional Title Amendment Bill as they were done concurrently. In general the amendments were merely procedural to conform to the current legal practices.
In order to fulfil the mandate of the NCOP to facilitate public participation during the legislative process, the committee advertised the Bill for public comments and received two submissions from the South African Property Owners Association and the Banking Council of South Africa. All the submissions were responded to by the department, and the committee was satisfied with the discussions held around the submissions.
The Select Committee on Land and Environmental Affairs, having considered the Deeds Registries Amendment Bill [B13 - 2010] (National Assembly, section 75, referred to it and classified by the Joint Tagging Mechanism, JTM as a section 75 Bill, supports the Bill with proposed amendments.
I thank you.
