Keynote address by the Deputy Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development, Honourable Chupu Stanley Mathabatha, Moutse 1 Title Deeds Handover Ceremony, Bareki Community Hall, Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality Sekhukhune District, Limpopo Province. 5 September 2026
Programme Director
MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development in Limpopo, Mr Basikopo Makamu,
MEC for Economic Development, Environment and Tourism, Mr Tshitereke Matibe
Acting Executive Mayor of Sekhukhune District Municipality, MMC Alfred Matlala
Mayor of Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality, Councillor Given Moimana,
Traditional and community leaders,
Representatives of the Bareki Community Committee,
Officials from all spheres of government,
Distinguished guests,
Members of the media,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Thobela. Siyalotsha.
It is a great honour to stand before you today. This is a day of fulfilment. It is a day of recognition. It is also a day of new beginnings. Today, we are not merely handing over documents. We are affirming rights. We are recognising the legitimate interests of families. Most importantly, we are reaffirming and placing land ownership firmly in the hands of the people.
The title deeds being handed over today carry legal significance. They provide certainty and recognition of ownership. For many beneficiaries, this moment has taken years to arrive. The Moutse 1 Land Titles Adjustment Project began in 2011. It was initiated to assist landowners and their descendants to regularise ownership through the Land Titles Adjustment Act (Act 111 of 1993).
The process has not been simple. In several cases, the original purchasers had passed away before the land could be transferred. Their immediate heirs had also passed away. Families were left with land, but without the legal documentation required to confirm ownership in their names.
Many affected households could not afford the legal and administrative costs of the title-adjustment process. Government therefore had a responsibility to intervene. This intervention was important. Land reform must not exist only in policy documents. It must be experienced in the daily lives of our people. It must give families security of tenure. It must open doors to development. It must help communities build a better future.
In 2019, the title-adjustment process was completed for 107 title deeds. A handover ceremony was held. The families that were covered received formal recognition of their land rights.
Today’s handover advances that work through the presentation of a further 133 title deeds.
We recognise that the road to this ceremony has been difficult. There have been different opinions. There have been concerns about consultation and local participation. There have also been postponements and moments of uncertainty. At times, trust was tested. We must acknowledge this history honestly.
We must also acknowledge the persistence of the community. You continued to engage. You continued to raise your concerns. Government listened.
Through dialogue, through engagement, we found common ground. On 17 April 2026, the National Department of Land Reform and Rural Development, which I led, and the Limpopo Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, led by MEC Nakedi Kekana at the time, as well as the Sekhukhune District Municipality and Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality met here with community representatives and stakeholders.
The Limpopo Department of Education was also represented.
Our central understanding emerging from the engagement was clear. The title deeds had to be handed over. The handover had to be supported by proper consultation, lawful administration and co-ordinated planning. Accordingly, we committed ourselves to moving forward. Today, that commitment is being honoured.
I wish to thank the Bareki Community’s Committee. I also thank the members of the community for their patience and continued engagement. I thank our provincial and municipal governments. I thank the officials who worked through the legal, administrative and logistical matters required to bring us to this point.
Today’s ceremony demonstrates what can be achieved when we choose dialogue. It demonstrates the value of patient leadership, while recognising the fact that time never stops. This confirms that even difficult processes can be brought to a meaningful conclusion when all parties remain committed to a lawful and fair outcome.
However, as we all agreed on 17 April 2026, the title deed must not be seen as the end of the journey. It is the foundation for the next phase. A title deed gives legal recognition to ownership. Its developmental value must now be realised through productive land use, sustainable household livelihoods and rural development interventions.
During our stakeholder engagement on 17 April 2026, we discussed this matter directly with the community. Community members proposed several areas towards productive land use and rural-development assistance for consideration.
Following a process of engagement, the Department formally received, last week on Friday, 28 August 2026, a list of the Bareki Community’s proposed productive landuse and rural development interventions. Today, as we hand over these title deeds, I wish to assure the community that the Department will immediately commence a dedicated planning process to assess and refine these proposals. This process will culminate in the finalisation of a package of interventions aligned to the Department’s productive land-use and rural development mandates, programmes and available support mechanisms.
Equally important, in line with the District Development Model approach, the Department will initiate an integrated planning process for productive land-use and rural development interventions, involving the Limpopo Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in line with MEC Kekana’s input at the Stakeholder Engagement on 17 April 2026. I also wish to take this opportunity to welcome MEC Makamu in his new role as the Limpopo MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development.
In assuming this important responsibility, he has also inherited the commitments and aspirations associated with the productive land-use and rural development interventions discussed with the Bareki Community. We look forward to working closely with him and his department to advance these commitments through an integrated and collaborative approach that improves the lives and livelihoods of the community.
The integrated planning process guided by the District Development Model approach will include the Sekhukhune District Municipality and the Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality. In the same vein, the involvement of the Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism will be critical, particularly given the role of MEC Matibe as the Provincial District Development Champion for the Sekhukhune District. Through this collaborative approach, we are looking forward to developing an integrated productive land use and rural development plan that responds to the community’s needs, advances sustainable rural development and economic opportunities.
The planning process must, however, look beyond government departments. We should not limit our thinking to existing departmental programmes or current policy instruments. Those programmes remain important – and the community’s proposals must be aligned with them, but they may not provide every solution required by the community.
The planning process must therefore also explore opportunities available through public development finance institutions. It must assess whether suitable forms of development finance, technical support or enterprise assistance can be accessed. It must also explore opportunities available at Sector Education and Training Authorities, particularly skills development opportunities. It must also explore mutually beneficial partnerships with responsible private-sector stakeholders.
Such partnerships must respect community ownership. They must be transparent. They must be lawful. They must deliver measurable value to households and the broader community. The community’s proposals should therefore be considered against a wide range of possible opportunities.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The value of a title deed cannot be measured only by the paper on which it is printed. Its true value is found in the security it gives to a family. It is found in the confidence to plan for the future. It is found in the opportunity to use land responsibly and productively to build access to work and sustainable livelihoods for community
members. It is found in the legacy that parents can pass to their children.
To the beneficiaries, these title deeds belong to you. Protect them. Understand the rights and responsibilities that come with ownership. Use your land wisely. Work together as families. Avoid arrangements that may place your ownership at risk. Seek proper advice before entering into agreements affecting your property. Let these title deeds become instruments of unity, progress and inter-generational security.
To the young people of Bareki and the surrounding communities, this occasion is also about you. Land reform must create space for your ideas. It must support your ambitions. It must allow you to see a future within rural communities. With access to knowledge, technology, finance and markets, young people can help turn rural land into a source of enterprise and opportunity. Young people in rural areas can build multi-sectoral rural economies and development using the land.
To all spheres of government, today places a new responsibility upon us. We have completed an important legal and administrative process for the beneficiaries who will be receiving their title deeds today, while the remaining title adjustment work continues. We must now support the developmental process, working together.
Following today’s title deeds handover ceremony, the productive land-use and ruraldevelopment planning process for this community must move forward. It must be consultative. It must be co-ordinated. It must be practical. It must lead to action, to implementation.
Today, we celebrate recognised ownership. Tomorrow, we must build on it. Let these title deeds give families certainty. Let productive land use create opportunity. Let rural development strengthen this community. Let partnership turn today’s achievement into lasting progress. May this day be remembered as the moment when a long journey towards recognised ownership reached its destination and a new journey towards productive land use and rural development began.
I congratulate every household receiving a title deed.
May these title deeds bring security to your families, value to your land and hope to future generations.
Working together, let us make land reform real.
Working together, let us make multi-sectoral rural development visible.
Working together, let us ensure that the land serves the people, including trough
access to work and sustainable livelihoods.
I thank you.
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