CHIEF registrar of Deeds, Carlize Knoesen has stuck to her guns amid growing pressure to withdraw a circular which mandates the inclusion of racial, gender, citizenship, and nationality information in all land-related transactions through a newly introduced form called LLL.
Knoesen said the circular was intended to establish precisely “who owns South Africa” in terms of a land audit and to assist the government in its land reform and transformation efforts.
The information contained in Form LLL that relates to race, gender, nationality and citizenship, will not be disclosed in any deed or document lodged for registration or execution, but instead would be used “only for statistical and land audit purposes relating to land ownership in South Africa”, said Knoesen.
The Foundation for Rights of Expression and Equality’s (Free SA) and the DA are among the few organisations that have threatened to legally challenge the introduction of the LLL form.
In a letter to Knoesen, Free SA demanded answers on which legislation empowered the chief registrar to compel the disclosure of the data.
“We are not aware of any Act of Parliament that currently provides lawful authority for the state to compel individuals to disclose their race, nor for the state to verify or process such information for administrative purposes of this kind. If such an Act does exist, we request that the Chief Registrar urgently identify and clarify its provisions, especially with reference to its compatibility with the Constitution.
“Even if a legitimate governmental objective were to be cited in support of collecting racial data (e.g., for purposes of redress, audits, or transformation policy development), the means adopted must still comply with constitutional constraints.”
The organisation argues that in its current form, the regulation constitutes an impermissible infringement of constitutional rights and values, including those protected under sections 1, 9, 10 and 14 of the Constitution.
The DA said they have since written to Land Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso to withdraw the new Deeds Office rules and that he immediately halts their enforcement.
“The DA is obtaining legal advice, with a view to challenging this new Regulation, and by appealing to the Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development, to see reason and immediately withdraw the implementation of this regulation. The DA holds that this regulation is both unconstitutional and beyond the legal powers afforded to the Minister under the Deeds Registries Act of 1937. It is unacceptable to subject South Africans to disclose personal information under threat of a 'denial of service'.”
Knoesen said the chief registrar’s Circulars were issued for the purpose of creating uniformity in the various deeds registries regarding deeds registration practice and procedural issues.
“In terms of section 10(1)(t) of the (Deeds Registries Amendment Act) Act, the Minister may make regulations prescribing ‘the manner and form in which personal information relating to race, gender, citizenship and nationality of land owners in South Africa may be collected for statistical and land audit purposes only, and only for capturing such information into a register for official use by any department of state or administration in the national or provincial sphere of Government." (my underlining). The Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 2024 (Act 20 of 2024), provided for the insertion of section 10(1)(t) (see section 6(d) of Act 20 of 2024). Act 20 of 2024 came into operation on 10 December 2024."
Cape Times