In this Act, unless the context otherwise indicates—

‘‘accounting officer’’

means, in relation to a national or a provincial department, a person mentioned in section 36 of the PFMA and includes any person acting as the accounting officer;

‘‘acquire’’

in relation to an immovable asset—

‘‘best practice’’

means a desirable and appropriate standard, process, procedure, method or system in relation to immovable asset management;

‘‘best value for money’’

means the optimisation of the return on investment in respect of an immovable asset in relation to functional, financial, economic and social return, wherever possible;

‘‘custodian’’

means a national or provincial department referred to in section 4 represented by the Minister of such national department, Premier of a province or MEC of such provincial department, so designated by the Premier of that province;

‘‘custodianship’’

means the execution of functions contemplated in section 4(2);

‘‘disposal’’

means any disposal contemplated in the State Land Disposal Act, 1961 (Act No. 48 of 1961) or a provincial land administration law;

‘‘immovable asset’’

means any immovable asset acquired or owned by government, excluding any right contemplated in the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (Act No. 28 of 2002);

‘‘immovable asset management’’

means those management processes which ensure that the value of an immovable asset is optimised throughout its life cycle;

‘‘immovable asset management guidelines’’

means the guidelines published by the Minister in terms of section 19 which a custodian or user may use to develop its immovable asset management plan;

‘‘immovable asset management plan’’

means a custodian immovable asset management plan or a user immovable asset management plan, as the case may be, prepared in accordance with section 6;

‘‘life cycle’’

means the period during which a custodian or user expects to derive benefits from the control or use of an immovable asset;

‘‘MEC’’

means a Member of the Executive Council;

‘‘Minister’’

means the Minister responsible for Public Works;

‘‘organ of state’’

means any department of state or administration contemplated in paragraph (a) of section 239 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, of 1996, but excluding the department or administration in the local sphere of government;

‘‘PFMA’’

means the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999);

‘‘portfolio’’

means the total extent of immovable assets controlled or used by a national or provincial department;

‘‘prescribe’’

means prescribe by regulation;

‘‘provincial land administration law’’

means the Acts listed in the Schedule;

‘‘standard’’

means the minimum standard, process, procedure, method or system in relation to immovable asset management and the life cycle of immovable assets, issued in terms of section 19;

‘‘strategic plan’’

means the strategic plan of a custodian or user as prescribed in terms of the Public Service Act, 1994 (Proclamation R103 of 1994) and the PFMA;

‘‘surplus’’

in relation to an immovable asset, means that the immovable asset no longer supports the service delivery objectives of a user;

‘‘this Act’’

includes any regulation or standard issued by the Minister;

‘‘treasury’’

means the National Treasury or a provincial treasury, as defined in section 1 of the PFMA;

‘‘user’’

means a national or provincial department that uses or intends to use an immovable asset in support of its service delivery objectives and includes a custodian in relation to an immovable asset that it occupies or intends to occupy, represented by the Minister of such national department, Premier of a province or MEC of such provincial department, so designated by the Premier of that province.