By Melisa Munzvandi
THE Government says its title deeds digitisation programme is designed to combat property fraud, theft and double sales.
But as thousands of property records move into a digital system, the question is whether the technology will close loopholes or create a faster route to fraud.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Vimbai Nyemba said, “Five hundred title deeds have been securitised and validated. We still have got thousands in the system and we also have others with the conveyancers.”
Government says digitisation will make records more secure and easier to verify. But access through digital platforms raises questions on who can access information, how identities are verified, and what safeguards exist.
The land issues particularly title deeds is highly immotive to the people of Zimbabwe so much that Parliament had to summon the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands and Rural Development, Prosper Mutondi to explain the inconsistencies and frequent changes in the registration and provision of title deeds to the land reform beneficiaries
The Portfolio Committee on Lands and Rural Development this week grilled Lands and Rural Development Ministry Permanent Secretary Prosper Matondi over reforms it said appear to contradict existing laws.
Matondi told MPs government was now issuing new land permits with an expiry date to replace the 99 year leases issued to new farmers in 2006 to2007.
MPs asked whether the changes could undermine tenure security and open new avenues for disputes.
Government says it is exploring support through the Legal Aid Directorate for owners who cannot afford legal costs.
Bindura South MP Toendepi Remigious Matangira questioned why land reform beneficiaries should pay large sums for title.
He has opposed extending individual title deeds to communal land, warning it could undermine traditional land administration and lead to sale of ancestral land.
Other MPs insisted national land policy must follow the law, not individual interpretations.
Nyabani said, “Vanhu vakungoti vakangorara, vakasanduka vakarara nerimwe divi, vakungonyora zvavari kufunga. Mitemo yenyika haisi yekumba kwemunhu.”
For now Government says digitisation should make ownership safer.
The test will be whether the system can answer who gets access, who verifies users, who controls records, and what happens if the system is manipulated.
Will this digital revolution close the door on property fraud, or make the key easier to obtain?
Comments from the Registrar of deeds were unavailable by time of Publication.