Integrating Poor Populations in South African Cities - Agence ...

4. Planning as Implemented in South Africa Today
4.3.2. Municipal Zoning
Despite these overriding powers granted to the provinces, the municipalities are
responsible for general land regulation and zoning, discussed in a document titled the
Town Planning Scheme or Zoning Scheme. However, these documents were not
restructured or modified when apartheid ended. In most municipalities, the old plans
are still in use and for this reason it is primarily the provinces that have decision-making
power.
However, the metros, that is to say the six largest cities in South Africa, must rely
on several old town planning schemes that date from the apartheid years; these
schemes correspond to the former municipal borders and are not consistent with
each other. The city of Johannesburg is currently working to grant building permits with
seven zoning plans that date from before apartheid ended and therefore do not at all
fit the city’s current development strategy. Thus, the city of Johannesburg has undertaken
the long process of updating and integrating these thirteen former documents into
one document. This new town planning scheme is not yet in force. Similarly, the city
of Cape Town currently utilizes twenty-seven zoning schemes and is in the process of
elaborating a single, coherent document covering the entire municipality: the Cape Town
Zoning Scheme, which should come into force at the end of 2009. Two other metros
— Ekhuruleni and Ethekwini (formerly Durban) — have undertaken the same revision
process.
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4.3.3. A Complex Building Permit Application Processes
The mechanisms by which to grant building permits for land are multiple and
relatively complex. Several forms must be filled out and sent to the province, one of
which is relatively complicated and covers environmental aspects. In addition, ownership
conditions for each plot are grouped together in the Title Deed 35 system, which is old
but relatively complete and organized. All of this, added to the weakness of municipal
staff in charge of land management, generates long response times and long appeals
35. Title deeds are property deeds that specify the owner and a certain number of conditions that need to be
met depending on the land in question.
Integrating Poor Populations in South African Cities © AFD 2009