Empower the poor with title deeds, says ex-banker Jordaan

Billionaire private equity investor and ex-banker Michael Jordaan likes to share his views on X, starting 2026 with a post on the controversial issue that government must give legal title to people staying on communal land.

“Some 13% of land in SA is held by tribal authorities. 17 million people or a third of our population live on these communal lands. Giving title deeds would turn poor rural dwellers into property owners,” he says in his post, which links to a longer discourse published on the website of his investment firm, Montegray Capital.

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“There is one major initiative that would move the earth: giving legal title to many millions of families who are living freely and openly on land that notionally does not belong to them.

“Allocating title deeds to these subsistence farmers would turn impoverished rural dwellers into property owners. Newly titled farmland could be leveraged for development loans or eventually even sold,” he adds.

“Either way, this would unlock and unleash massive capital for growth. In one fell swoop, a third of our citizens would build wealth through property appreciation while having stability and control over their livelihoods.

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“They could make changes and improvements to their properties without the threat that their living rights could arbitrarily be taken away,” he said, adding that some deal will need to be struck with tribal authorities to compensate them for losing their vested interests in administering these lands.

“The individuals affected could also become landowners themselves. Or they could receive a monetary incentive to relinquish control.

“The prize of creating 13 million new landowners would be worth the price,” he says.

Jordaan recognises that land reform is both a crucial economic and political issue, and that a large part of the black population was removed from their land and confined to homelands during apartheid.

“Barring black South Africans from land ownership in large parts of the country resulted in exclusion from economic opportunities,” he says.

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“Land is important for livelihoods and food security. It holds deep symbolic meaning as an acute loss during apartheid, but also as hope for a more inclusive and fair future.”

Jordaan further calls on authorities to give title deeds to the five million South Africans that are living in informal settlements and, in the future, further overall land reform.

Considerations

Some of Jordaan’s followers on X were quick to highlight potential issues with the proposal, especially the rather obvious one of political control.

Jacques Joubert points out that tribal leaders influence the way their subjects vote. The proof of this is that political parties go and seek favour with traditional leaders before every election.

“In some rural areas of SA, traditional chiefs still decide or heavily influence who people vote for during elections,” he adds.

Many of these chiefs were bribed or co-opted by the apartheid government to enforce its policies and maintain control in the homelands.

“I wonder whether, after the apartheid regime fell in 1994, the ANC simply continued this pattern, taking over the role of providing patronage or incentives to secure the loyalty and electoral support of these chiefs in rural constituencies.

“The ANC may have regarded it as political suicide to alienate the chiefs by issuing title deeds to rural people, i.e. taking away their control over the land and the people living under their custodianship.”

Joubert then ask the crucial question: “African feudalism?”

It seems like a valid argument. Traditional leaders won’t allow ‘their’ land to be taken away and given to their poor subjects, and no politician will champion the issue.

Property tax

Another consideration is that individual owners would have to pay property tax – once the close-to-impossible tasks of land surveying, physically marking boundaries, settling disputes, distributing title deeds, and completing a valuation process are done.

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In contrast, legislation allows municipalities to exempt traditional lands from property tax.

Politicians empower municipalities to keep traditional leaders and their subjects happy in exchange for their votes every five years to keep their jobs.

Traditional leaders receive an extra incentive to keep the status quo in the form of considerable salaries and living cost allowances from government.

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Property tax would not be a big issue in informal settlements, as properties – once the owner receives a title deed – would probably not be liable for rates and taxes in that most municipalities grant exemptions and rebates to properties valued below a certain threshold.

Academic

Jordaan acknowledges the long-term challenges of the idea, alluding to the fact that people may be tempted to quickly cash in their new capital.

“Ideally, all of these titling programmes need to be done as part of a comprehensive improvement of socio-economic conditions such as access to data, training, schooling and transport.

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“Community participation to address the root causes of poverty, improve living conditions but also to stop opportunism when titles become available, will certainly be needed. And, of course, further overall land reform beyond titling will still be required,” he says.

The debate is largely academic.

SA has a ‘mixed’ economy that includes a private sector based on capitalism and a government and associated organisations that lean towards socialism, as well as a feudal system comprising nearly a third of the population.

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It seems unlikely that any one of these groupings will change its mindset.

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