Land matters and rural development : 2013 (2) : joernaal

• Author: Willemien Du Plessis,Nic Olivier,Juanita Pienaar
• DOI: 10.10520/EJC153133
• Published date: 01 January 2013
• Date: 01 January 2013
• Pages: 425-446
• publishedBy: UNISA Press

Land mattersand rural development:

2013 (2)

1 General

Three new Policy Frameworks were published on 23 July 2013 (see Land Reform

below). This recent increase in legislative and policy document activity may be

linked to the Government’s general reconsideration of land reform matters in the

light of the centenary of the commencement of the Black Land Act 27 of 1913.

Renewed activity within the broad field of land reform is also connected to the

developmental approach that has become more pronounced since 2009.

The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) had

already decided in 2010 to embark on a comprehensive land audit as it was ‘clear

that records of who earned what in South Africa; where, and what proportion of

this belonged to the State, ... were uncoordinated, inadequate and incomplete’.

The State Land Audit gathered information relating to the identity of the owner as

well as that of the occupier/user, the rights to the land, its current usage, and the

buildings and improvements existing on the land concerned.

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Registered state land is defined as land owned by the state (national,

provincial, municipal and parastatals) and registered in the Deeds Registrar’s

Office as such.

Unregistered state land comprises surveyed land belonging to the state

without being registered in the Deeds Office. Of the total surface area of South

Africa (121,973,200 ha), 7% is currently still unaccounted for, 14% is state land

and 79% is private land. The ratio of state land to private land per province

(excluding the land unaccounted for) is as follows: Eastern Cape 9:67%; Free

State 7:91%; Gauteng 17:65%; KwaZulu-Natal 50:46%; Limpopo 20:70%;

Mpumalanga 25:63%; North West 23:71%; Northern Cape 5:94% and Western

Cape 8:89%.

The former TBVC areas and self-governing territories (approximately 13%

of South Africa) have the following extent: Ciskei 947,960 ha; Gazankulu 746,925

ha; KaNgwane 366,314 ha; KwaNdebele 337,332 ha; KwaZulu 3,938,362 ha;

Lebowa 2,249,748 ha; QwaQwa 114,525 ha; Transkei 5,094,446 ha; Venda

646,993 ha; and Bophuthatswana 3,991,519 ha.

Land Audit http://www.gov.za/speeches/docs/2013/land_audit.pdf (acces sed 2013-09-26).

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426 (20 13) 28 SAPL

Currently, the DLDLR is not in a position to identify the extent of South

African land held by foreign individuals, companies and trusts. In August 2013 it

was announced that a further land audit will be undertaken to determine racial

and foreign land ownership patterns. It is proposed that a land management

commission will be instituted to undertake this task.2

According to the 2012 Development Indicators Report, a total of 76 705

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restitution claims (as lodged by the final submission date of 31 December 1998)

had been settled at the end of the financial year 2011/2012; 77,334 claims were

settled by 31 March 2013. In 2010/2011, 1 495 claims were settled, and in

2011/2012, 1 835 claims. (Settled claims within this context mean the issuing of

a certificate in terms of section 42D of the Restitution of Land Rights Act 22 of

1994 by the Minister for RDLR.) The Report acknowledged that ‘insufficient

attention was given to ensuring finalisation and sustainable development of land

restored to beneficiaries’.

As regards Land Redistribution, 3 840 355 ha had been acquired by the end

of 2011/2012, but 1.5 million ha still needs to be transferred to beneficiaries. The

identified shortcomings included issues relating to access and availability of land

for urban-based economic development, as well as the ‘under-utilisation of newly

acquired land by beneficiaries (which concern is currently being addressed by the

recently introduced Recapitalisation and Development Programme – see

discussion below). A major policy shift is envisaged in order to bring about

improved spatial planning as well as proper land use and management. In

addition, it is realised that effective post-settlement support is an indispensable

requirement for the success of the Land Acquisition and Redistribution

Programme.

In this note, the most important measures and court decisions pertaining to

restitution, land redistribution, land reform, housing, land use planning, deeds,

sectional titles, agriculture and rural development are discussed.4

2Land restitution

The Minister for RDLR published his intention to introduce the Restitution of Land

Rights Amendment Bill of 2013 in the National Assembly. The Bill will amend the

cut-off date for the lodging of claims for restitution to 31 December 2018.5

Legalbrief Today (2013-08-20) http://www.legalbrief.co.za.

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ht t p : / / w w w . t h e p r e si d e n c y -d p m e . g o v .z a / d p m e w e b s i t e / _ a d m i n / I m a g es/ P r o d u c t

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Documents/Final%20to%20the%20printers.pdf; see also Commission of Restitution of Land Rights;

Annual Report 2012/2013 http://d2zmx6mlqh7g3a.cloudfront.net/cdn/farfuture/aPvY-7Ri2k4A6TAdjt

Tv66nkKfVUI1hMsXZfSmQffHl/mtime:1375949479/files/130806annreport.pdf ((accessed 2013-09-

26)).

In this note the most im portant literature, legislation and court decisions are discussed for the

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period 2013-05-01 to 2013-09-15.

Clause 1.

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