BULAWAYO residents have accused the government of giving them insufficient notice to validate their title deeds under a new mandatory digitisation programme.
This follows confusion over whether the documents have already been validated and growing fears that the process could disenfranchise pensioners and low-income homeowners.
The dispute centres on Statutory Instrument (SI) 76 of 2025 - the Deeds Registries Regulations, gazetted on 18 July 2025 - which introduces a nationwide programme to validate all existing paper title deeds and replace them with secure, digitally-backed “securitised” deeds.
Under the regulations, holders of old title deeds have a mandatory 24-month window ending in July 2027 to submit their documents for validation.
After that deadline, only securitised deeds will be legally recognised for all property transactions.
The shift from paper to digital deeds comes after decades of vulnerability in Zimbabwe’s property registry.
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Fraudsters have exploited the paper-based system using fake identity documents and forged title deeds to sell properties belonging to unsuspecting owners.
The new system will feature a tamper-proof electronic registry accessible around the clock, with each title deed scrutinised for authenticity before a digital deed is issued.
However, the programme has sparked widespread public debate, with critics questioning its affordability, accessibility and transparency.
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) chairperson Stephen Nkomo told residents that the move is “anti-people” and too expensive.
Nkomo said they are not against the digitisation of title deeds but argued that the government should digitalise records without passing costs onto property owners.
“People don’t have that money; they are failing to pay rates due to economic hardships,” Nkomo said.
“Some of them are old people, on pension and were given cession since 1980 and nothing was happening.”
He questioned the duration given for the process, arguing that the government should engage directly with communities to explain the procedure.
“Why such a short space of time? We are visited by a lawyer to explain to us instead of the government,” Nkomo said.
We want to engage the deeds office so that this instrument must be reversed—it is anti-people.
“Residents have no problem with their properties; they have been owning them with either cession or title deeds since a long time ago.
“Why should they be made to pay for the same documents?”
The validation process requires property owners to engage a conveyancer, who uploads the deed and its details for verification through the Registrar-General’s Office.
The government has negotiated a subsidised, all-inclusive rate of US$215 comprising US$100 for the lawyer, US$100 for registry registration and US$15 for VAT.
A BPRA board member, Busani Ncube, said they have been “sold out” by Members of Parliament who went to Parliament to discuss matters without consulting their constituents.
“We are not worried about the lawyers; they are explaining something that has already been gazetted, but we want to talk to the MPs who are representing us,” Ncube said.
He said the US$215 fee is not a small amount, especially for pensioners and the elderly.