Introduction
The objective of this scoping paper is to inform DFID's design of a long-term programme of support for land issues in South Africa, by highlighting what the key land issues in urban areas and potential gaps in policy and practice are. The focus is on the needs of the urban poor with regard to land in urban areas.
The paper is based on the experience of the Urban Sector Network and Development Works in urban land issues, a review of relevant literature, and discussions with the following stakeholders: Anton Arendse, Department of Housing, 21 August 2003; Cathy Glover, People's Dialogue/ uTshani Fund/ Homeless People's Federation, 7 August 2003; Jens Kuhn, City of Cape Town, 7 August 2003; Johann Olivier, City of Johannesburg, 26 August 2003; Yusuf Patel, Department of Provincial and Local Government, 27 August 2003; Yondela Selemela, Department of Provincial and Local Government, 27 August 2003; Glen Thomas, Department of Land Affairs, 21 August 2003; Norah Walker, City of Cape Town, 24 July 2003. Further inputs were received at the Multi-Stakeholder Workshop on 3 September 2003, and written inputs were received from Ronald Eglin of Afesis-Corplan, Anton Krone of the Built Environment Support Group (BESG), Kobus Pienaar of the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), and the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE).
The underlying assumption of this paper is that, although the current formal land registration and transfer system is too complex and expensive for the needs of the urban poor, this system needs to be transformed and made more flexible in order to ensure that urban poor households are able to get access to formal, documented property rights that are defendable in court and which, in the case of ownership, are tradeable on the property market and which can potentially contribute to using property as collateral for credit. It is acknowledged, however, that there is scope for informal tenure options and interim forms of tenure to provide security of tenure in certain urban contexts, and that experiences of tenure in rural areas need to be looked at in this regard.
In this paper, "urban areas" are defined as including peri-urban areas characterised by peripheral dormitory-type townships that are essentially urban in character, although spatially dislocated. Examples of such peri-urban settlements include Atlantis in the City of Cape Town area and Botshabelo in the Mangaung municipal area, both of which are approximately 50km from the city centre, considerably beyond the urban edge of the contiguously built up area. Land issues relating to peri-urban areas that are essentially rural in character, e.g. the communal tenure areas to the north and south of Durban, are excluded from the scope of the report.
Firstly, the context of the urban poor and land is looked at: the South African urban context, categories of the urban poor in relation to their access to land, and the value that land has for the urban poor. Secondly, formal and informal processes relating to urban land issues, and the organizations involved, are briefly reviewed (these are discussed in more detail in Appendices 2, 3 and 4). Finally, key issues relating to urban land are identified and discussed. The key issues are grouped into five clusters: delivery programmes for providing urban land for the poor, sustainable livelihoods and the needs of the poor, formal processes and organizations, property market issues, and informal processes.
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