IRR shows government title-deed backlog fails women

The government’s own figures confirm that the chronic backlog in the issuing of title deeds, now running to hundreds of thousands, disproportionately disadvantages women.

This is the topic of the latest edition of Free Facts, published by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR).

Property rights are women’s rights shows the scale of the government’s failure to clear the backlog of title deeds, including a staggering more than 30,000 dating to the apartheid era, and the impact this has on the property rights of women.

Drawing on Minister Department of Human Settlements Thembi Simelane's response to a question about the extent of the backlog as of September 2025, the IRR shows that between 1994 and 2014, the number of unissued title deeds was 423,642. Over the next decade, the backlog nearly doubled, reaching 774,064. The rate at which the backlog grew more than tripled from the first decade after 1994, when some 21,200 were added annually, to the decade following 2014, when annual additions rose to some 70,400.

As noted above, the most staggering fact of all is that the backlog goes back to the pre-1994 period.

Says IRR Strategic Engagements Manager Makone Maja: “Considering how often we hear the government’s repeated commitments to addressing the injustices of the past, it is grossly unconscionable that millions of South African households live in such grave uncertainty, unable to exercise their property rights a whole three decades after democracy began.”

The IRR points out that information from the Department of Human Settlements corroborates its argument that the title-deed backlog likely disproportionately disadvantages women.

Department figures show that the number of women beneficiaries of government-subsidised housing rose 20 percentage points in 20 years, from 49% in 2003 to 68% in 2023.

It is therefore likely that this distribution is reflected in the backlog itself, skewing it mostly towards women.

Maja concludes: “This is an issue that goes to the heart of women’s rights. Women with secure tenure are in a stronger position to secure other rights, such as the right to dignity, to safety and security. Affording them certainty in their property rights would also support their pursuit of financial independence and freedom. If government is serious about empowering women, it must be serious about clearing the backlog and granting women their title deeds.”

Media contact: Makone Maja, IRR Strategic Engagements Manager Tel: 079 418 6676 Email: makone@irr.org.za

Media enquiries: Michael Morris IRR Head of Media Tel: 066 302 1968 Email: michael@irr.org.za