South African Experience of Land Reform - SG Office

John Obree: Surveyor-General Cape Town

Surveyor General: Cape Town

• Staff - 146

• Land parcels - +2 000 000

Areas of JurisdictionWestern Cape ProvinceEastern Cape Province

Areas of JurisdictionWestern Cape ProvinceEastern Cape Province

The Present “Formal” Land Title SystemThe Present “Formal” Land Title System

Cadastral Survey Registration

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1. Survey field work

2. Obtain consents

3. Deal with clients

1. Approve

2. Maintain

3. Archive

Unique Identification of Rights

Title

Circular Farms(1824)

Land Reform in SA since 1994 -

• Restitution -

Act 22/1994 -Land Claims

• Land Redistribution - Focus on sustainability: LRAD

• Tenure Reform -Communal Land Rights Bill

CLRB - 2002

• Preamble: i.t.o. Sect 25 of the Constitution– To provide for:

• legal environment and secure tenure• protection of tenure rights• transfer of communal land / registration of deeds / alienation of

rights• legalize customary communal land tenure systems• administration structures• Land Rights Boards• settlement of disputes• Land Claims Court• lease and expropriation of communal land

Tenure Reform: CLRB

• Fears:– Not acceptable to traditional leaders

• allocation and administration of land

• Questions:– survey and upgrading of rights

• initial survey of admin areas

• identification of PTO sites

• adjudication of boundaries

• effective administration systems

• priority?

Tenure Reform:

PTO - “Permission to Occupy” (est. 1 million unsurveyed Titles)

Land Administration Systemof the former homelands: Transkei & Ciskei:

Eastern Cape

Transkei 29 Admin Districts

each comprising approx. 40 Admin Areas

Ciskei 9 Admin Districts

each comprising approx. 40 Admin Areas

BRIEF HISTORY

• Registration system for 74 yrs.(1920 - 1994)

system suspended - records insecure

• Used by communities on unregistered state land for:– Residential lots– Arable lots– Other uses:

• grazing• burial grounds• sport/recreation• other purpose

Hernando de Soto 2000. The mystery of Capital. London: Transworld Publishers. 243p. ISBN 0-593-04664-1

A2 Quantify the actual and potential value of extralegal assets (dead capital)

C 1.5.1 Obtain/prepare maps showing the boundaries of individual parcels

C3 Re-engineer the record keeping and registration processes

Where to from here?- PTO System dysfunctional.How do we recognise or bring the majority of existing PTO’s into the system?

Surveyed and unsurveyed:

Surveyed Districts “quitrents”Proclamations 174/ 1921&170/1922

Unsurveyed DistrictsProclamation 26/1936

LESOTHO

FREE STATE

KWAZULU NATAL

EASTERN CAPEEASTERN CAPE

FREEHOLD FARMS

SURVEYED GARDEN & BUILDING LOTS (Pre 1936)

Action by SGO: CT

• Mandate from DLA 2002 Strategic Plan– Investigate and capture all PTO land parcels

over next 5 years• Action?

– planning workshops

– information:investigations & searches– field trips to collect /copy information

REPORT ON PTO FIELD TRIPS

Currently two field trips have been undertaken, one to MQANDULI Area and one toBISHO/ZWELITSHA Area.

The objective was to locate the PTO registers and plans photocopy the data and return toCape Town and analyze.

The trip to Mqanduli was somewhat disappointing, as the registers and plans had no links.Using aerial photography we managed to digitize one location onto our spatial as a test site.Being more prepared, the second trip has been somewhat more successful. We managed toestablish a link between the PTO registers and the plans.

We have taken numerous GPS readings in the locations and will soon start to place theseareas onto our spatial map.

There are numerous problems in that the locals are at first loathe to assist in any way. (Youhave to first win over their trust).

The record keeping is a bit of a shambles. Not every location has a plan attached or aland register which supplies the link between PTO register and sketchplan.

The plans are not to scale, hand drawn, not kept up-to-date and some are in an atrociouscondition.

In the long term where PTO registers, land registers and maps can all be linked – these can beplaced onto our spatial as a picture only (no Data exists on these plans) – where no links ormaps exist – These areas will have to be properly surveyed.

Neil SmithAssistant Director

PTO plan

Spatial before informal added

Informal digitize

Informal digitized

Thank You from SG Cape Town - “at your service”