The Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature Portfolio Committee on Rural Development and Agrarian Reform shall hold public hearings on Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Bill (SPLUMB) next week.
Before 1994, planning was designed to serve different political idea, segregation, differentiation and privilege. Multiple laws, multiple institutions and parallel processes were instituted by the pre-1994 pieces of Legislation. Planning laws were fragmented across the old boundaries of the then four provincial administrations, homelands and self-governing territories.
In 1994 South Africa inherited complex and disjointed planning system which manifest in unequal, incoherent and efficient settlement patterns. The development of Facilitation Act (DFA), 1995 (Act No. 67 of 1995) was promulgated as an interim measure to deal with this legacy.
The SPLUMB emerged through the Green Paper (1990) and White Paper (2001) processes to replace the DFA as the legislative instrument to regulate spatial planning land use management in the country. The government’s intended remedy is to repeal the DFA in its entirety and replace it with Spatial Planning Land Use Management Act (currently still a Bill).
The objectives of the Bill are as follows:
- Provide for a uniform, effective and comprehensive system of spatial planning and land management for South Africa.
- Ensure that the system of spatial planning and land use management promotes social and economic inclusion.
- Provide for development principles and norms and standards
- Provide for the sustainable and efficient use of land.
- Provide for cooperative government and intergovernmental relations amongst the national, provincial and local spheres of government.
- Redress the imbalances of the past and to ensure that there is equity in the application of spatial development planning and land use management system.
The venues of public hearings are as follows:
13 May 2013 at 10h00
1. Matatiele: Town Hall
2. Aliwal North: Greenslade Hall
3. Mthatha: OR Tambo Mayor’s Council Chamber:
Southernwood
15 May 2013 at 10h00
4. Port Elizabeth – City Hall Auditorium
5. Queenstown – Town Hall
17 May 2013
6. East London – Orient Theatre
Esteemed members of the media are therefore invited to attend and cover
these events.
For interviews, kindly liaise with:
Bulelwa Ganyaza
Cell: 071 642 3490
Velisile Bukula
Cell: 071 642 3495
