JULY 2020 ISSUE 1
ZIPEC IS FAST BECOMINGA SPECIALIST IN LANDAUDITS
ZIPEC EXECUTIVEDIRECTOR LAUNCHESWOMEN IN PLANNING SA(WIPSA)
MUNICIPAL RATESREBATES
IN TH IS ISSUE
The lack of prioritisation of waste managementservicesThe limited understanding of waste as a resourcethat has the potential to contribute to economicgrowth The limited resources (human, technical andfinancial, equipment and others) which impacts onthe integrated waste management servicesProcurement and financial processes delays as wellas a lack of proper implementation of Integratedwaste management plans and budget allocation.
Ziphelele Planning and Environmental Consultancy(ZiPEC) has recently completed the review and updateof the uMngeni Integrated Waste Management Plan2020. The municipal’s current IWMP is dated June 2011,which prompted the need for a reviewed IWMP, Councilapproval and adoption.
The development and review of Integrated WasteManagement Plans for municipalities has beensparked by numerous challenges relating to:
Continued on next page.
ZIPEC COMPLETES UMNGENIINTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENTPLAN (IWMP)
Ziphelele Planning and Environmental Consultancy Newsletter
GROUP AREAS ACT: 70YEARS LATER
PAGE 1
ZIPEC NOW DOES WASTERECYCLING PLANS
ZIPEC’S CAPABILITYPROFILE
OUR RECENT PROJECTS
JULY 2020 VOL . 1
In realising the need for IWMPs, the UnitedNations Environmental Programmeacknowledges that a plausible solution to wastemanagement would be an integrated approachwhich should include collective management ofall types of wastes and implementation of the3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) policies andstrategies.
The South African Constitution within the Bill ofRights ensures that everyone has the right to anenvironment that is not harmful to their healthand well-being.
Legislative and other measures should be usedto ensure that the environment is conservedand protected for future generations.Considering this, the development of IWMPs is arequirement for all government spheresresponsible for waste management in terms ofthe National Environmental Management: WasteAct (Act No. 59 of 2008) for government tometiculously plan and manage waste.
The guiding document for the development ofIWMPs provide a background for thecompilation of IWMPs and a basic description ofthe legal framework pertaining to IWMPdevelopment.
ZiPEC followed the legal framework process asthe primary methodology for the review andupdate of the uMngeni IWMP. The use of theDepartment of Environmental Affairs guidelinedocument paved the way in ensuring that theupdated IWMP is compliant.
ZIPEC COMPLETES UMNGENI INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENTPLAN (IWMP)
Geographic area analysisDemographics (Population and DevelopmentProfiles) Assessment of Waste Quantitiesand Types based on the available dataAssessment of Current Domestic WasteGeneration Per Capita based on theavailable dataEstimating Future Waste Generation Ratesand QuantitiesAssessment of the Existing WasteManagement Systems: Waste Recycling,Treatment and DisposalStatus of waste collection services andcollection needsGap and Needs AssessmentFinancing of Waste ManagementDesired end stateAssessment of alternativesImplementation PlanCommunity Involvement and stakeholderparticipationIWMP Review, Monitoring and Approval
The approved uMngeni IWMP will beincorporated in the reviewed IntegratedDevelopment Plan. The review covered thefollowing key aspects:
ZiPEC is not new in undertaking environmentalmanagement municipal plans. In 2016, ZiPECalso developed the Okhahlamba IntegratedWaste Management Plan for council approval.The approval of these municipal plans provethat ZiPEC is a company that is able to planacross various sectors linking land use planningand environmental sustainability.
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JULY 2020 VOL . 1
the status of landownership within themunicipalities, whether the properties that the municipalityhas disposed of have been properly transferred to add value to the municipal valuation roll.
Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937State Land Disposal Act 48 of 1961Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,1996 (Act no. 106) Local Government: Municipal Property RatesAct, 2004 (No. 6 of 2004) Local Government: Municipal Property RatesAmendment Act, 2014 (Act No. 29 of 2014).
In the past few months we have been fortunateenough to undertake Land Audits for the Umzumbeand Umdoni local municipalities - both locatedwithin the Ugu District Municipality of KwaZuluNatal.
The intention of the land audit was toestablish, amongst others;
In order to effectively manage a municipal’sportfolio of its landholdings, it is necessary for amunicipality to conduct a land audit. This enablesthe municipality to have a complete picture ofstate assets within its boundaries and to properlyconsider the full range of options to access landfor service delivery projects. The land analysiswould promote economic development andultimately enhance the capacity of the municipalarea to alleviate poverty, increase employmentopportunities as well as maximise theimplementation of development programmes.
Part of the methodology entailed the analysis ofapplicable laws in relation to land administration,management and the municipality's role,. This isimportant when undertaking any project withinthe built environment sector. What wasestablished is that the guiding legislation for landaudits is the following:
The use of such legislation allows forimplementation of the projects that are alignedwith the municipality’s Integrated DevelopmentPlans (IDP).
Stakeholder engagement is an important aspectof any project. Land audits require input
ZIPEC IS FAST BECOMING A SPECIALIST IN LAND AUDITS
from various key role players such as themunicipal and provincial and traditionalauthorities.
The use of the Geographic Information Systems(GIS) was pivotal in analysing various landparcels within the study area. GIS made it mucheasier to compile landowner information, sitesizes, zoning and land use data, as well assummarising the data to provide outcomes ofthe land audit. This allows the municipality tohave a clean and credible cadastral dataset.
Undertaking a Land Audit can be quite achallenge in terms of collecting the relevantinformation, particularly when working in ruralareas due to spatialfragmentation. This requires credible GIS landcover information that could be overlaid withcadastral data to provide an overview oflandscape changes over a period of time.
Both land audits resulted in an increase in thenumber of land parcels found within themunicipal boundaries. This is due to the newproperties created as a result ofsubdivisions that were not accounted for in themunicipal valuation roll and other municipaldata. Once a land audit is done it is importantthat municipalities capture GIS data in real timeand update the data at least annually, in linewith the valuation roll updates.
Along with the GIS data, we had created aProperty Register/database which can be usedas a basis of planning strategic projects suchas housing, commercial developments andtourism.
PAGE 3
Promote gender mainstreaming in the planning and
development sector
Encourage women to choose careers related to
planning and development
Promote education and training within the planning
and development sector
Accept the centrality of women in society in general,
and in the built environment, in particular;
Promote gender issues at the forefront of the
planning and development sector;
Accept the need for cooperation between all
genders, races and classes in the planning and
development sector.
Mrs. Gugulethu Sithole-Ngobese, the Executive Director
of ZiPEC is the founder of Women in Planning South
Africa (WIPSA).
WiPSA is pioneered by three young aspiring women in
the field of Town Planning i.e. Mrs. Sithole-Ngobese, Ms.
Menelisi Mhlanga and Ms. Samke Mkhize. The
organisation aims to create and promote progressive
growth in an environment where there’s gender
imbalance in terms of professional growth and
advancement in all dimensions of the town planning
profession.
The objectives of the organisation are to:
The WIPSA organisation aims to:
ZIPEC EXECUTIVEDIRECTOR LAUNCHESWOMEN IN PLANNING SA(WIPSA)
WIPSA understands gender
mainstreaming as a public policy
concept of assessing the different
implications for people of different
genders of any planned policy
action, including legislation and
programmes, in all areas and levels.
In addition, the concept of gender
mainstreaming is intended to be
transformative, changing the very
definition and discourse of
development to include gender
equality as a means and an end.
It is through this concept, that WIPSA
intends to ensure that young
planners, especially women are able
to influence public policy in South
Africa by “reimagining South African
cities and towns”.
WiPSA launched a virtual session on
the 18th June 2020, whereby the
launch discussed the organisation
and the future it envisions for the
planning industry.
To find out more, go to
www.wipsa.org.za
JULY 2020 VOL . 1
PAGE 4
THE GROUP AREAS ACT: 70 YEARS LATERJULY 2020 VOL . 1
PAGE 5
How, why and where many of us live was determined by the Group Areas Act, which was passed in
1950. The 7th of July 2020 marks seventy years since the Act was passed, and we still find ourselves
experiencing the legacy of this oppressive legislation.
Take a look at your neighbourhood; are most of your neighbours a part of your race group? Do you
only have one or two roads that allow you enter and exit the area? Do you have any rivers, large green
spaces, or highways that separate your neighbourhood from the next? If you answered yes to the
questions above, then you are living in a space that is marked by the remnants of the Group Areas
Act.
The Group Areas Act was a spatial planning tool used during the oppressive apartheid regime to
restrict people into designated residential areas for exclusive use by certain race groups; these areas
were to be known as “group areas”.
The Act was a cornerstone of the apartheid regime, as it reinforced the idea of separating people into
racial groups.
The Group Areas Act was not only a tool to restrict the movement of Black people, but also to ensure
that prime properties were allocated within the well developed areas, closest to the CBDs, reserved for
the white minority. The Black majority was relegated to overcrowded townships at the outskirts of the
urban fringe, with a significant number forcibly restricted to “homelands”, referred to as Bantustans.
The areas reserved for Black, Indian and Coloured communities lacked basic services such as street
lighting, tarred roads, electricity, adequate sanitation and running water.
Most of these areas, including the African homelands, usually one had one transport network in order
to monitor movement Apartheid-regime urban planners separated the group areas using barriers
such as highways, railways, rivers, mountains, and buffers such as green spaces and other
“undesirable” land uses such as cemeteries.
We can see from the map below that what is clear is the continued predominant separation of the
racial groups.It is also important to note that the central
business districts have diversified and there is
now more than one in most areas; but
generally, the white population are living
closer to these CBDs than any other racial
group. Whilst many, largely African people are
within the CBD itself, this trend has resulted in
white people leaving the city centre and
surrounds for gated estates and the
countryside.
Continued on next page.
Written by Mrs. Gugulethu Sithole-Ngobese and published in The Star, Cape Argus and DailyNews on 7 July 2020
JULY 2020 VOL . 1
PAGE 6
We need to start with education and training,
generally: we need to teach our youth the legacy of
oppressive legislation such as the Group Areas Act so
that we can incite passion about spatial planning
issues and have new perspectives enter our field.
Planners need to take the lead in land use planning,
and they need to influence the spatial transformation
agenda.
The current curriculum for planning students and
candidate planners needs to change; there needs to
be an emphasis on practical land use planning as
part of their training.
The state departments and their agencies responsible
for the planning profession (such as the SA Council
for Planners) need to play a more interventionist
approach that goes beyond populism, politics, or
platitudes in guiding spatial transformation.
interventionist, role in guiding economic development to
meet the needs of its citizens.
There are various economic and social changes that can
be made to ensure financial mobility and wealth
distribution, but spatial planning is the obvious one. If we
change how and where people live and work, the rest
follows.
So how do we change this?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Given our atrocious history, every person in South Africa
now deserves dignity. We can achieve this by ensuring
basic human rights are honoured.
We can do this through ensuring quality service delivery
to all, which can be achieved through a simple
“rectification” tool i.e. spatial transformation.
Spatial planning is not led by urban
planners, but by other professionals
in the built environment who are
responsible for the barriers. Roads,
service infrastructure and
conservation areas are determined in
silos before allowing proper land use
planning. As an example, poorly
located transport networks still
dissect areas rendering most urban
spaces inefficient and unworkable.
Green spaces, such as passive open
spaces continue to act as buffers
which leads to a lack of integration –
sometimes deliberately.
Planners lack adequate training with
the curriculum in most planning
schools failing to deal with planning
issues at the coalface e.g. planning
schools rarely have work integrated
learning as part of the curriculum.
There is a lack of political will to
undertake meaningful measures
which would see spatial
transformation or integration. This is
largely because economic separation
has now replaced racial separation
with the political elite preferring the
former.
The Group Areas Act was officially
repealed on 30 June 1991 by the
Abolition of Racially Based Land
Measures Act.
Given that over two decades has passed
since the repealing of the Group Areas
Act, why is there still such inequality
among the living conditions of the
races?
After working in the planning sector for
11 years, I have witnessed the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Gated communities and golf estates is
one of the most prevalent examples.
South Africa is meant to be a
development state implying that the
state plays an active, even
NOTE FROM THEEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
"Women are the most vulnerable when it
comes to development, but men dominate
the sector, with little appreciation of what
the other half of the population's needs
really are."
Mrs. Gugulethu Sithole-Ngobese
The COVID-19 pandemic has had
a significant financial impact on
businesses and individuals and
will continue to do so for several
months to come. ZiPEC has
started an initiative to assist the
public with the applications for
reducing property rates, as per
the Local Government Municipal
Property Rates Act 6 of 2004.
ZiPEC offers a complete analytical
approach to rates reduction,
which include all the assessments,
layouts and motivations to submit
to the municipality. We help you
save on your monthly accounts,
with a NO SAVINGS, NO PAY
policy*.
*T&Cs apply.
MUNICIPALRATES REBATE
JULY 2020 VOL . 1
PAGE 7
Initiate and support the development of
recycling centres, and waste minimisation
clubs.
Collect information on recycling material types
and quantities for the regional Waste
Information System
Provide an efficient and affordable refuse
collection system with waste separation and
recycling options
There is a viable recycling industry in South Africa.
By law, municipalities have the responsibility of
waste collection and disposal.
In terms of the National Waste Management
Strategy (NWMS) it is envisaged that new laws will
be passed dealing with recycling and
environmental economics (e.g. incentives, taxes).
The National Environmental Management Act also
emphasises the need for development to be
sustainable and requires that ‘waste is avoided, or
where it cannot be altogether avoided, minimised
and reused or recycled where possible and
otherwise disposed of in a responsible manner.
Benefits of Waste Recycling Plans include:
ZiPEC NOW DOES WASTERECYCLING PLANS
NOTE FROM THEEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Statutory development applications
Permit applications e.g. Trade Schedule
Permits
Site layout/settlement planning
Development of Integrated Waste
Management Plans (IWMP)
Environmental Authorisations (EIA, BAR,
WULA etc)
Environmental Management Audits
Facilitation of environmental and
development project
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Solutions (data analysis, map production,
data capture, data compilation)
Housing Sector Plans
Land Audits
Review of Spatial Development Frameworks,
Integrated Development Plans, District
Growth and Development Plans
Project Planning, implementation and
monitoring
Project feasibility studies
Cemetery Master Plans
ZiPEC provides various professional services
that entail experts such as Development
Planners, Environmental Assessment
Practitioners (EAPs), Environmental Law
Specialists, Spatial Planners, GIS Specialists
and Project Managers.
WE DO THE FOLLOWING:
ZIPEC’S CAPABILITYPROFILE
JULY 2020 VOL . 1
PAGE 7
Umdoni Land Audit
Umzumbe Land Audit
Review of the Umngeni Integrated Waste
Management Plan
Development Outside the Scheme
Application for the Proposed development
of the Mkuze regional Airport on Portion 30
of the Farm Quest No.13223, situated at
Mkuze Area.
Rezoning and Subdivision for the
Establishment of a Wastewater treatment
Plant Located in Richards Bay
Environmental Impact Assessment and
Water Use License Application for the
establishment of a wastewater treatment
plant Located in Richards Bay
Precinct Plan for Isandlwana Area
Development of the Alfred Duma Cemetery
Master Plan
Formulation of Guidelines for the
Demarcation Boundaries, Creation
and Characterisation of Isigodi
We present here just a few examples of our
most recent projects, to show the diversity of
our clients and partners, and of the projects
we do with them;
OUR RECENTPROJECTS
CONTACT USEmail: [email protected]
Website: www.ziphelele.co.za