Planning tribunal to tackle land grabs
THE O R Tambo district municipality is in the process of establishing a planning tribunal to help curb illegal land grabs and the spread of unplanned business areas in two of its local municipalities.
Surprisingly, the King Sabata Dalindyebo – which in recent years has had several land grabs in informally settled areas like Mandela Park and Slovo Park – will not be one of the municipalities the planning tribunal will operate in.
Once set up, the five-member tribunal will take on the responsibility of sifting through development applications from investors, developers and private individuals, according to district municipal spokesman Ayongezwa Lungiswa.
“O R Tambo does not have land, but we are active in the development space,” he told the Daily Dispatch on Monday.
“We are looking for professional people who are registered with their respective bodies including town planners, law practitioners and land surveyors among others.”
The Dispatch was alerted to the move after district municipal bosses published a notice in the paper last week calling for applications for people to serve on its planned tribunal.
Those appointed will serve a five-year term with the focus on development applications in Nyandeni and Mhlontlo local municipalities.
“Applicants must be persons with leadership qualities and must have knowledge and seven to 10 years relevant experience in the fields of land development, law, spatial planning and land use management, environmental management, civil engineering, transportation and roads, land surveying and electrical engineering and must be registered in terms of their professions or associations as provided for in the law,” stated last week’s notice.
Lungisa said the tribunal was informed by the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act of 2013 which required all municipalities to establish planning tribunals.
“Normally we have the integrated development plan [IDP] which is a five-year cycle. We are now aligning the district plans to the national development plan.”
As such the tribunal formed part of what district municipal bosses dubbed “O R Tambo district municipality’s Vision 2030” or the district development plan.
Lungisa said the new tribunal would help align land development with the IDPs.
“There are towns that crop up suddenly although they have not been planned.
“For example, in some municipalities you just see hardware stores booming along national routes and sometimes proving to be a hazard to motorists,” he added.
Hence, with the tribunal it should become easier to see what land is available for development.
Asked if it would not cause conflict with traditional authorities, who are generally regarded as custodians of communal land in rural areas, Lungisa said one of the tribunal’s responsibilities would be to engage with traditional leaders in the event that communal land was identified for developmental purposes.