Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
INTRODUCTION AND THEME
Let me begin by adding my voice in welcoming you all to this important KwaZulu-Natal Land Summit.
Allow me to convey a special word of gratitude to all our traditional leaders who have responded positively to the call by ensuring that they are with their government today and other stakeholders to contribute to improving land governance in our province in order to accelerate socio-economic development.
A word of appreciation also goes to KwaZulu-Natal COGTA for the hard work they have done in preparing for this Summit and in crafting a solid conceptual framework for the discussions that will ensue between today and tomorrow.
All of us are gathered here because we are driven by the passion to accelerate development and to improve the lives of the people of KwaZulu-Natal. We are joined together in the hip because the development of this province requires strong commitment from all of us.
Land being an emotive issue in the history of our country for nearly four centuries, we meet not so much to answer questions on the legacy of colonialism and apartheid which dispossessed the black majority of our land, but to focus on strengthening the governance of land through already existing legislation like Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPUMLA) of 2013 which came into effect in 2015.
Among others, SPUMLA provides a framework for spatial planning and land use management. It is an important piece of legislation meant to guide our country towards inclusive, developmental, equitable and efficient spatial planning in all spheres of government.
We announced in the State of the Province Address (SOPA) last month that we would have this Land Summit this month. A decision for this Summit goes back to a 2019 decision by the Provincial Cabinet Lekgotla but as we know, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of our programmes had to be delayed and revised to focus on managing the spread of the virus.
In order to improve collaboration among Traditional leadership, local municipalities and government departments in the administration of land, the 2019 Cabinet Lekgotla resolved that a summit to deal with these matters must be convened.
The Cabinet Lekgotla resolved that, and I quote: “There needs to be a close collaboration on planning issues as well as allocation of sites between amaKhosi and local municipalities in order to improve planning as well as provision of services. In this regard, an urgent summit should be held between amaKhosi, iziNduna, municipalities and Provincial Departments. The summit must also deal with the implementation of SPLUMA in the Ingonyama Trust Land”.
Today we are better armed to improve land governance and administration since the publication in 2019 of the Presidential Review Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture. This report makes specific recommendations on specific areas of focus in the improvement of collaborative land management.
We look to this Summit to succeed in mobilising Land Administration and Management role-players in the public sector, the private sector, civil society, and communities for a collective review and improvement of Land Administration and Management efficiencies in KwaZulu-Natal.
We have full confidence that the Summit will allow KwaZulu-Natal to reach a consensus on how we can better manage land access to advance development for all the people of KwaZulu-Natal.
In the various commissions which are appropriately themed, we will all be robustly engaging with a view of achieving the goal that is expressed in the theme of this Summit which is: “Towards Efficient land administration for the Rapid Release of Priority Development Land, Integrated Land Use Management and Unified Tenure Management, Compliance and Enforcement Services accessible at One-Stop Land Development Offices in the Districts”
While the democratic government has done more since 1994 to improve and consolidate various pieces of legislation under one law, we all know that our success in improving land governance has been uneven.
We are aware that various provinces have adapted SPUMLA to suit their unique circumstances. In this regard, we submit that the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, a largely rural province has its own history, dynamics, and that legislation was promulgated to accommodate the unique history and circumstances of our province.
Our task at this Land Summit is to make sure that we learn from our experiences since the dawn of democracy with a view of ensuring that the development of future generations is not constrained, delayed, or arrested because our laws or policies on land discourage or thwart development.
This is a Summit that requires that we begin doing business differently to unlock growth and development opportunities which often are tied to land as a productive economic asset.
Our resolutions must help us to succeed in managing rapid urbanization not only by improving human settlements and service delivery in our cities and towns, but that we also advance the development of our rural areas so that they become attractive centres of investments, viable economies, and quality delivery of services.
DEFINING THE CHALLENGE IN KWAZULU-NATAL
Compatriots, there can be no argument that the current Land Administration system has failed to curb the spreading of irregular rural and urban settlements or facilitate inclusive Spatial Integration.
Unsustainable settlements with disjointed socio-economic infrastructure persist twenty-eight years since our democratic breakthrough in 1994.
At present, our government lacks an inclusive and unified Tenure Management system. This results in different approaches and standards in the recognition and registration of all recognised land holding rights.
Citizens and investors in KwaZulu-Natal do not have access to any local point of service at which they can receive land related information to facilitate efficient economic development.
Currently, the identification of well-located land for priority development in KwaZulu-Natal and the release of such land for prioritised development is at a slow pace and does not appear to be impacting on Spatial transformation.
Business and investors continue to raise this point and as recently as last week during the KwaZulu-Natal Growth Summit in the South Coast, this point was at the centre of our discussions. It is quite clear that we cannot afford a business as usual approach if collectively we are serious about the development and growth of our province.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT & LAND GOVERNANCE AS A FACTOR IN THE FEASIBILITY AND PACE OF SERVICE DELIVERY AND IMPLEMENTATION OF PRIORITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
Compatriots, the government and the people of KwaZulu-Natal regard land as the primary resource for development and service delivery.
We recognise that we hail from a history of division and extreme fragmentation in terms of policy frameworks for land rights, land administration, planning and management.
As the Concept Document prepared by COGTA correctly points out, this province emerges from a disjointed and fragmented land governance background.
It’s a background characterized by wars, suffering and complex administrations imposed on the citizens.
We agree that we have been granted a new start after 1994. However, the effects of our past and the systemic and administrative complexities of the past are not absent in the current dispensation.
It is true that our land governance system requires unification, equity and harmonization of standards and norms. The benefits of inclusion must be clear in our land administration system going forward.
This Summit, therefore, provides an excellent opportunity for KwaZulu-Natal to break with the past that echoes South Africa’s spatial pattern of marginalisation and underdevelopment.
Thanks to our progressive Constitution today the Right to Property, including Land, is protected. In line with the Freedom Charter, the right to housing is also provided for in Section 26 of the Constitution. Ours is a Constitution that also recognizes the systems of customary Land Tenure Rights.
As KZN Cogta correctly points out, the “Land Administration Systems that should support these various Land Tenure Rights continue to suffer from the historical fragmentation. Although new laws have been passed to create new Land Tenure Rights and protect people from arbitrary eviction, the Administrative systems to support these laws have not been fully developed or unified into one Land Tenure System for the country.”
As the provincial government, we are aware that priority developments in agriculture, human settlements, economic development and social services are land-based.
We take the view that land governance is a collective system within which identification, procurement, use and citizen access to land is managed. In such a system, various role players mandated through a variety of legislative frameworks are involved in land governance. These role players collectively constitute a system that ultimately determines the pace of service delivery through its own efficiencies or inefficiencies.
REPORTING BACK ON INTEGRATED RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
Compatriots, we delivered the State of the Province Address under the theme, “Turning the corner in KwaZulu-Natal: Building on our Resilience, Forging Lasting Peace, Creating Job Opportunities, and Ushering Sustainable Growth.”
The SOPA went into detail on our plans for economic recovery and job creation. To succeed, we have called on all social partners to play their role. We also commanded government to improve the efficiencies of our developmental state and make it truly capable in leading all social partners to advance development.
Improving land governance is thus central to the success of our economic recovery and job creation, hence we insist that all hands must be on deck and we must focus on implementation.
Please allow me to highlight what we are doing in the delivery of houses in an effort to improve human settlements and transform the apartheid spatial planning.
The KwaZulu-Natal government has a plan to accelerate the rollout of human settlements as part of eradicating housing backlogs. This programme depends largely on the availability of land. We are therefore calling for greater collaboration between stakeholders and a better co-ordination of land acquisition.
Linked to the rollout of human settlement is the Integrated Residential Development Project (IRDP).
All projects undertaken in terms of the IRDP programme are ensuring radical departure from apartheid group areas planning and development for specific race groups only.
If we succeed, and we must succeed, these projects will result in a variety of housing typologies for various income groups including social amenities.
Allow me also to hasten to point out that we are also focusing on the management of informal settlements.
KwaZulu-Natal has an estimated 937 informal settlements with an estimated 393,167 informal dwellings.
The majority of the informal settlements (73%) are concentrated within the eThekwini Metropolitan area due it being an economic driver in the province followed by uMgungundlovu District Municipality at 15%.
There are currently 112 informal settlements upgrade projects in planning addressing various informal settlement areas within the Province and 23 projects will be servicing sites-this will yield approximately 10 000 serviced sites resulting in 10 000 households benefitting from permanent services.
The ring-fenced funding of R714 million was allocated towards the upgrading of informal settlements in the last financial year.
The areas are the following:-
• Land Acquisition = R91 million
• Planning = R167 million
• Installation of Services = R456 million
We also announced during the State of the Province Address that we are expediting the decommissioning of the unacceptably high number of the existing (Lindela) ‘transit’ camps in eThekwini Municipality.
In the past financial year, we had 71 Lindela (transit camps) in eThekwini but we are reducing this number through the acquisition of vacant land from private owners.
The Isiphingo Lindela has been targeted through the current development of Kanku Road Project with an approved budget of more than R70, 5 million for 360 sites.
We have installed bulk infrastructure and also constructing about 130 houses which are at various stages.
We also need land in order to increase the supply of housing opportunities by providing serviced sites with title deeds to qualifying beneficiaries. This enables communities to build their own homes.
We need a great co-operation amongst all spheres of government and key stakeholders like amakhosi. This is important especially when identifying various land parcels for servicing of sites.
As government, we have approved a policy which allows for people earning between R22 001 and R40 000 to benefit from government projects at fair market prices.
Through the Department of Human Settlements, we continue to work towards the implementation of a further 6 682 sites, currently in the pipeline at various stages of planning for income category of R 22 001.00 and R 40 000.00.
These projects are located across various municipalities including Endumeni, eThekwini, Alfred Duma, uMdoni, uMlalazi, uMsinga and Greater Kokstad.
Our efforts do not end there. We are continuing with the identification of more land parcels that are strategically located for the implementation of the Serviced Sites Programme in order to address the gap housing market.
As government, we are determined to drastically increase the provision of serviced sites.
SYSTEMIC AND ADMINISTRATIVE IMPACTS OF LAND GOVERNANCE
Ladies and Gentlemen, we must agree at this Summit that government programmes and government interventions aimed at changing people’s lives have to follow set protocols in accessing land for development and service delivery.
We must also recognize that there is always a timeline with regards to government programmes, and this is particularly the case with budget commitments.
Our experience shows that inefficient, cumbersome, non-collaborative land governance systems contribute to government failure to deliver as per stated targets and timelines.
An inefficient land governance system will be concerned with the implementation of protocols to regulate access, use and management of land with little or no regard to the delays and failures of service delivery and development.
On the other hand, a good land governance system will be concerned with the creation of an administrative environment that enables service delivery and development within applicable legislative frameworks and protocols.
SILO APPROACHES AS A FACTOR IN POOR LAND GOVERNANCE
Compatriots, this KwaZulu-Natal Land Summit provides an engagement platform to promote integration and collaboration among role players.
We are all aware that South Africa has high backlogs in priority developments and service delivery. This aspect is highlighted in the work of the Presidential Review Panel on Agriculture and Land Reform.
We know that among failures and poor performance, there are notable challenges in the protection of land already identified and set aside for priority developments.
Our land administration systems require refinement to ensure that they are owned by all citizens. This will lead to community protection and elimination of problems such as land invasions. We must therefore all work together towards public awareness campaigns on why land invasions are not only counterproductive but also delay development and our ability to grow the economy and improve services.
Twenty-eight years into freedom and democracy, there must certainly be a change in the culture of how our people do things. Equally, as leaders and partners, we must collaborate better and deliver empowerment opportunities and services better to discourage the culture of invasions and violent service delivery protests.
In this regard, it is important that all authorities should collaborate and align the provision of their services with others who may not be directly involved in land administration but who deliver services on the land.
This is our moment to bring all spheres of government together to improve the delivery pf services and to meet our customers’ needs through the implantation of the District Development Plan. We must work better to release land for development and to speed up water licenses for developers.
At this present moment in history, must recognize that we have various Intergovernmental Relation (IGR) opportunities to promote collaboration and integration but that these do not seem to have been used in land governance.
COMPETING NEEDS
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is clear that our historical background of deprivation forces communities to access land based on present and pressing needs such as the need for housing.
Our land governance system has to be informed by these pressures.
An unnecessary delay in the approval of a school site allocation becomes an invitation for a land invasion as communities on the waiting list for human settlements RDP housing have no other option but to invade the nearest site.
We have a land governance system that has a responsibility to include all affected parties in the design and adoption of all criteria that relate to identification and allocation of land. We have seen the results of failure to include communities in the determination of these criteria. Engagement platforms such as this Summit offer the opportunity for inclusion.
CONCLUSION
The Summit offers an opportunity for the province to adopt strategies and programmes that promote integration and collaboration within current mandates.
This is an opportunity to remove barriers in the implementation of service delivery and development programmes.
The Summit should be a regular event going forward as we need continuous improvement of our integrated and collaborative efficiencies.
We invite all stakeholders, including business, amakhosi, and communities to work together to improve land governance in our province so that we can turn the corner faster towards the KwaZulu-Natal of our dreams.
Together Growing KwaZulu-Natal!
I thank you!