IT firm wins deeds tender

A local software company has won a Government tender to provide a digital platform for the processing, production and digitalisation of securitised title deeds.

Speaking after Monday’s Cabinet meeting, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Monica Mutsvangwa said Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi had presented Cabinet with a report on the engagement of Dokuma (Pvt) Limited.

The modernisation of the old manual process of recording and issuing title deeds will speed up the work of the Deeds Office significantly, allow buyers and their lawyers far faster checking processes, and produce title deeds that are far harder to forge or duplicate so closing down some of the scams that are becoming more common.

The process will also speed up dramatically the issue of title deeds, in this case deeds of grant, to the tens of thousands who were victims of land barons and whose property holdings can be regularised. Already this process has been speeded up tremendously by using satellite imagery for much of the survey work.

Government last December announced plans for issuing title deeds to urban settlement dwellers through the Presidential Title Deeds and Settlement Regularisation Programme.

Dokuma (Pvt) Limited was chosen after recommendation by a taskforce chaired by the Secretary for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Virginia Mabhiza that a digital registration system replace the current manual registration system that is tedious and ineffective, often resulting in lengthy waiting periods and duplication of important documents.

The company then provided the digital platform for production of securitised title deeds that were issued to beneficiaries, beginning with Epworth during the pilot phase of the programme.

Dokuma (Pvt) Ltd is a Zimbabwean registered company which specialises in developing digital platforms and processes for receiving registration and archiving of title deeds.

The system the company developed allows for secure management and safe storage of documents through block chain technology.

Minister Mutsvangwa said this platform will facilitate ease of doing business and afford citizens access to services anywhere and at any time, thereby eliminating the land and space barons menace. – New Ziana.