Hybrid governance and land purchase strategies in a state-subsidised housing project in a rural South African town

Abstract

Many of the estimated three million state-subsidised houses that South Africa has delivered to the poor in registered ownership since the end of apartheid in 1994 have changed hands off-register, creating cloudy titles. This is indicative of effective tenure administration being ranked below other policy goals without suitable strategies to address the shortcomings of granting ownership as the tenure form upfront. Interviews with residents, community leaders, officials, and land professionals indicate that buyers register transactions if the registration system is accessible, the family unit believes registration is useful, and that they are aware of the risks of off-register transactions. The South African land governance system is somewhat incoherent, with various hybrid official and unofficial arrangements. In this environment, community-based organisations (CBOs) may unwittingly encourage off-register transactions. It follows that continual title maintenance and CBO engagement are crucial in maintaining clean titles.