Press Statement | LHR Intervenes in Grandmother’s 10-Year Struggle to Secure the Title Deed to the House She Bought

Date: 23/10/2026


Mrs Phakathi, a grandmother, will be sleeping easier for the first time in over ten years knowing that she will finally get the title deed for the Sebokeng house she bought many years ago.

 

She bought the house from her brother-in-law, who then repeatedly tried to evict her from the house. On Tuesday 20th October 2026, the Pretoria High Court granted her application for the Deeds Office to transfer the title deed into her name. 

In 2004, Mrs Phakathi agreed to buy the house, from Mr Mgcina, her then brother-in-law. She completed instalment payment for the house in 2011, from her wages as a domestic worker. She repeatedly asked Mr Mgcina to transfer the title deed into her name, as required by the 1981 Alienation of Land Act. He refused. After her sister died, and Mr Mgcina remarried, he demanded the house back. In 2015 he attempted to unlawfully evict her from the house. 

However, the community rallied round and prevented this. Mr Mgcina then turned to the courts and in 2019 obtained an eviction order, based on his name remaining on the title deed. This was despite Mr Mgcina owning his own house and that an eviction would have left Mrs Phakathi, her children and grandchildren, homeless. 

There followed a long legal battle, while Mme Phakathi, now a pensioner stressed over whether she would lose the house she had worked hard to buy. This struggle for justice culminated with Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) successfully bringing an application to the High Court for an order that the Deeds Office transfer the title deed into Mrs Phakathi’s name. 

David Dickinson, LHR’s case attorney, expressed relief that this long struggle for justice has been vindicated by the court. “This success was made possible by many people. Thanks go to Mamy Tladi who rallied the community in support of the Phakathi family; Advocate Malebogo Mashishi of Circle Chambers who represented Mme Phakathi pro bono in the High Court; the Orange Farm Human Rights Advice Office for their assistance; and, to all those at Lawyers for Human Rights who helped on the case.” 

Louise du Plessis, Land, Housing and Property Programme Head at LHR explained that “This case illustrates just some aspects of the chaos that characterises township housing. The title deeds system and the cost of conveyancing is generating an epidemic of disputes over property. A complete re-think of property ownership and transfer, appropriate to the realities of the majority of South Africans, is urgently needed.” 

For more information contact David Dickinson david@lhr.org.za  

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