Online Reporter
Nyore Madzianike
Senior Reporter
THE Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs is seeking the reintroduction of a retention fund through Treasury to raise resources for departments it oversees, including the Deeds Office.
This comes after the ministry cited underfunding as an impediment to the ongoing validation and digitisation of title deeds with a deadline of mid next year.
The department was mandated to validate title deeds under the Deeds Registries Regulations, 2025 (Statutory Instrument 76 of 2025).
To carry out this programme, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Mrs Vimbai Nyemba, said the programme was allocated about 8 percent of the ministry’s total budget.
She made the revelations last week while giving oral evidence before the Parliamentary Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on her ministry’s second and third quarter budget performance for 2025.
The Committee had raised concerns over the low utilisation of resources by the department.
It also noted that the programme remained underfunded, receiving the lowest allocation in the ministry’s budget.
The Committee sought an explanation on the lack of prioritisation of the programme, given the department’s mandate and measures being taken to ensure the digitisation process is accelerated.
“The ministry prioritised the digitisation of Deeds Registries. The project is hampered by a lack of adequate resources. There is a table that tells you which programme is receiving how much, and yes, Programme 4, Registration of Proprietary Rights, is on 8 percent. Be that as it may, the 8 percent is not received in full.
“While the ministry prioritised the digitisation of Deeds Registries, the project is hampered by a lack of adequate resources, as outlined below.
She said the ministry has since written to Treasury to return funds so as to plug funding gaps.
“To mitigate the allocation gap, the ministry advocated for the reintroduction of the retention fund, in line with Programme 4’s mandate, which was not approved by Treasury, although they promised to assist through appropriation.
“We addressed a letter to Treasury and requested the allocation of a retention fund, that is to say, when they receive money, Treasury could allocate 10 percent or 15 percent of that amount to Deeds Registries.”
Under the deeds registration and validation programme, the Registrar of Deeds requires all holders of old title deeds to submit copies of their documents to the Deeds Registry for validation within 24 months from the date the Statutory Instrument was gazetted.
Holders of old title deeds, upon submission, are also required to furnish the Registrar with original copies for verification purposes.
The validation process includes verification of the authenticity of each title deed and ensuring compliance with the requirements of the Act.
Officials will scrutinise each document to confirm its authenticity before issuing a new, digitally secured deed.
