Online Reporter
THERE have been several attempts by fraudsters to steal title to a property or to forge documents that they then use to borrow money and make a transfer.
The dishonesty sometimes involves officials in the Deeds Office, possible because a number of officials, some relatively junior, needed access to the physical records in the old manual system and so could grab these or make alterations.
For these, and other reasons, the Government decided to not just computerise the Deeds Office, having all title deeds on a database, but to use the many strengths of a database to ensure that a very high level of security is applied, much higher than is possible when copies held by the Deeds Office have to be kept in files and racks.
For a start, anyone accessing the database has to log-in, creating an automatic record of their presence, and that record being undeletable. The record also shows what they accessed and why.
Secondly, being able to electronically handle a title deed can be limited, seriously limited.
The system coming into effect uses the conveyancer, who has to be a fully qualified lawyer by legislation, to do the actual handling. While there are dishonest lawyers, as there are dishonest members of all professions, there are also some extreme checks on lawyers.
The Law Society of Zimbabwe has never hesitated to call in the police if it suspects criminal activity, as well as taking its own action where a deficient lawyer needs disciplining.
The Deeds Office itself can also introduce far greater security when only a small team of dedicated officers can access the deeds, and even then demand that at least two must act together to make any significant change.
Database permissions can be differentiated. While a very tightly defined group can have permission to make changes, more can be given “read only” access so they can see particular deeds but cannot do anything to change them or cancel them.
This allows banks to be given such permission and able to make simple checks, again by designated staff, when someone puts up a title deed for security to borrow money or develop land. The bank can assure itself, without seeking a major search of the Deeds Office, that the title deed exists, has no other claims against it, and is held by the person who is dealing with the bank.
This can free up a lot of potential capital for private development and business, especially as the Government is now in the process of granting title deeds to a lot of urban dwellers whose housing can be regularised and will be issuing title to the tens of thousands who benefited under land reform in rural areas.
The system would also allow a degree of control over some titles. For example, it would not be imprudent to ensure that a land reform property cannot be sold to someone who already owns farmland. That would ensure liquidity without the danger of the large estates being recreated, especially by large lenders.
We are seeing the conversion of huge manual filing systems into databases in many other areas. The Master of the High Court is moving the records of that office onto a database, allowing instant tracking of deceased estates, trusts and other property under the control of the courts.
The courts themselves have been moving legal documents into electronic form, to speed up and reduce the costs of obtaining justice. Already there are unexpected extra benefits, such as judges discovering early that a record contains errors and demanding that it is fixed.
We have seen the efficiency of the Registrar General grow dramatically with our basic documentation such as birth and identity documents and our passports going into a database under strict controls.
This is allowing provincial and even district passport offices, ending the queues and long journeys many used to face and turning the whole process into a fairly brief visit to a passport office.
This is allowing a lot of devolution of functions, since it does not really matter where the registering official is physically when they all can access the same records.
The vast number of Zimbabweans returning from South Africa have seen this. Obtaining duplicate documents and registering the birth of their foreign-born children being the least of their problems as they return home.
The Registrar General has posted officers at Beitbridge to make at least that part of the return very simple and efficient.
