View/Open - University of Zululand Institutional Repository
View/Open - University of Zululand Institutional Repository
View/Open - University of Zululand Institutional Repository
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143<br />
(ii) The Directorate <strong>of</strong> Land and Housing has two <strong>of</strong>fices - in<br />
Pietermaritzburg and Durban respectively. The Durban <strong>of</strong>fice address<br />
is Private Bag X54310, Durban, 4000, while the Pietermaritzburg<br />
<strong>of</strong>fice address is Private Bag X1724, Pietermaritzburg, 3200.<br />
(iii) The Chief Directorate: Works, Private Bag X9041 , Pietermaritzburg,<br />
3200 (General Provincial Services Branch), is responsible for the<br />
construction and maintenance inter alia <strong>of</strong> hospitals, libraries,<br />
museums, the Administrator <strong>of</strong> Natal's residence, and road traffic<br />
inspectorate <strong>of</strong>fices. The Directorate also controls the acquisition<br />
and disposal <strong>of</strong> land and buildings on behalf <strong>of</strong> other Natal Provincial<br />
Administration Branches.<br />
occurred in the absence <strong>of</strong> proper planning. Transit areas may be declared by local<br />
authorities, also by virtue <strong>of</strong> Act No. 52 <strong>of</strong> 1951, in order to take control <strong>of</strong> informal<br />
settlements within their boundaries. Emergency camps likewise, are declared in terms <strong>of</strong><br />
Act No. 52 <strong>of</strong> 1951. The purpose <strong>of</strong> emergency camps, as the name suggests, is to<br />
provide temporary services for short periods, to those evicted from informal settlements<br />
and privately owned property. The Community Services Branch is responsible for the<br />
camps.<br />
Informal settlements have no <strong>of</strong>ficial standing in law and are technically illegal - until such<br />
time as they have been declared as designated or transit areas or a black development<br />
area. Services in designated and transit areas (in practical reality), may be more rapidly<br />
provided than in black development areas, in view <strong>of</strong> the population pressures evident in<br />
designated or transit areas. The Community Services Branch is responsible for services<br />
in numerous informal settlements and squatter areas on State and privately owned land.<br />
The Branch has now assumed responsibility (partly on a caretaker basis); for many SADT<br />
areas previously controlled by the (formerl Department <strong>of</strong> Development Aid. The future<br />
<strong>of</strong> these areas is presently under discussion and will not be examined further*.<br />
*<br />
The situation was clarified in April 1994. According to the Department <strong>of</strong> Regional and Land Affairs.<br />
Pietermaritzburg, the total land area in Natal. <strong>of</strong> the (former) South African Development Trust was<br />
510 022 ha. Approximately 260 000 ha will be transferred to the control <strong>of</strong> the Department <strong>of</strong><br />
Agriculture for the settlement <strong>of</strong> black farmers. The remainder (mostly already settled urban land)<br />
will be transferred to the jurisdiction <strong>of</strong> the Community Services Branch. The Department <strong>of</strong> Regional<br />
and Land Affairs is the de iure owner <strong>of</strong> most <strong>of</strong> the former Department <strong>of</strong> Development Aid land.