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

5. The Hindrances to the Effectiveness of Planning Methods
Nevertheless, the IDP concept is still relatively new and many municipalities are facing
capacity-related difficulties. These new strategic planning tools have been imposed,
but it is difficult for municipalities — especially for medium and small municipalities —
to not merely endure these new instruments but rather truly take advantage of them
to plan their actions. Indeed, most communes (with the exception of the metros) call
on private consultants to produce their IDPs. In this way, the municipalities fulfil their
legal obligations but do not take advantage of this mode of strategic management. In
a certain manner, one can see the same phenomenon in small communes in
metropolitan France and overseas France. The municipal offices are overwhelmed by
day-to-day management tasks and do not necessarily have the necessary time and
personnel to elaborate a development plan for the commune. Thus, the Projet
d’Aménagement et de Développement Durable (PADD), which is supposed to come
before and determine the regulatory section of the PLU, is often produced after the land
use regulations and does not truly play a role in projection.
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Another aspect that makes the elaboration of strategic planning documents more
complex is the need to ensure compatibility between different territorial scales.
South Africa’s constitutional system of coordination between the three spheres of
government — which are not thirds but rather spheres that share certain responsibilities
and that must work together in an integrated manner — is particularly complex in
practice, and this makes itself felt in the management of planning. Indeed, cities’ Spatial
Development Frameworks must be consistent with the Provincial Spatial Development
Frameworks. Most communes still find it difficult to take into account this requirement
of consistency. Among other things, less than half of the provinces in South Africa have
produced their PSDFs as yet. Gauteng Province produced its Gauteng Spatial
Development Plan in 2000 and revised it recently, but it seems that in practice it is
rather the development of Johannesburg, as the main city, that guides overall development
directions. Once again, French municipalities face the same difficulty. Let us look at
Reunion Island, for example: all of the island’s territory must be covered by the Schéma
d’Aménagement Régional (SAR, regional development blueprint), which must then
apply to all the SCOTs and PLUs. The SAR dates from 1995 and has been being
revised since 2004. Thus, some communes are elaborating their own PLUs but cannot
yet base them on regional principles. They will even probably have to modify their PLUs
retroactively. One can clearly see here the difficulties involved in the long-term coordination
of different levels of government and in establishing inter-governmental planning.
Integrating Poor Populations in South African Cities © AFD 2009