In this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise—

"approve"

in relation to the Surveyor-General and to any general plan or diagram, means the signing of a general plan or diagram in order to signify that the requirements of this Act have been complied with in regard to that general plan or diagram;

"Chief Director"

means the Chief Director: Surveys and Mapping, appointed in terms of section 2A;

[Definition inserted by section 8(a) of the Land Affairs General Amendment Act, 1998 (Act No. 61 of 1998), Notice No. 1214, GG 19291, dated 28 September 1998

"Chief Surveyor-General"

means the Chief Surveyor-General appointed in terms of section 2;

"contiguous"

in relation to any land represented in a diagram or being subdivided, includes any land having a common beacon or boundary with that land, or land having a beacon being a common terminal point of a straight boundary line of such land, and with reference to any river boundary of such land, includes any land which may be affected by the acceptance of an agreement referred to in section 33(2)(b);

"deeds registry"

means a deeds registry as defined in the Deeds Registries Act, 1937 (Act No. 47 of 1937), and when used in relation to any mining title includes the Mining Titles Office;

"Department"

means the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform;

[Definition substituted by section 34 of the Rural Development and Land Reform General Amendment Act, 2011 (Act No. 4 of 2011), Notice No. 427, GG 34300, dated 16 May 2011]

"diagram"

means a document containing geometrical, numerical and verbal representations of a piece of land, line, feature or area forming the basis for registration of a real right and which has been signed by a person recognised under any law then in force as a land surveyor, or which has been approved or certified by a Surveyor-General and includes a diagram or copy thereof prepared in a Surveyor-General’s office and approved or certified as such, or a document which has at any time, prior to the commencement of this Act, been accepted as a diagram in a deeds registry or Surveyor-General’s office in the Republic or in any such office situated in any area which became part of the Republic at the commencement of the Constitution, 1993;

"Director-General"

means the Director-General of the Department;

"erf"

means any piece of land registered as an erf, lot, plot or stand in a deeds registry, and includes a stand or lot forming part of a piece of land laid out as, but not proclaimed, a township, or a portion of such erf, stand or lot;

"general plan"

means a plan which, representing the relative positions and dimensions of two or more pieces of land, has been signed by a person recognised under any law then in force as a land surveyor, or which has been approved or certified as a general plan by a Surveyor-General and includes a general plan or a copy thereof prepared in a Surveyor-General’s office and approved or certified as such or a general plan which has, prior to the commencement of this Act, been lodged for registration in a deeds registry or Surveyor-General’s office in the Republic or any area which became part of the Republic at the commencement of the Constitution, 1993;

"land surveyor"

means a person registered as a professional land surveyor in terms of the Professional and Technical Surveyors’ Act, 1984 (Act No. 40 of 1984), and whose name is entered in the register referred to in section 7(4)(a) of that Act;

"local authority"

means a local government body referred to in section 1 of the Local Government Transition Act, 1993 (Act No. 209 of 1993);

"Minister"

means the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform;

[Definition substituted by section 34 of the Rural Development and Land Reform General Amendment Act, 2011 (Act No. 4 of 2011), Notice No. 427, GG 34300, dated 16 May 2011]

"owner"

in relation to land, means the person registered in a deeds registry as the owner of such land, and includes—

"prescribed"

means prescribed under this Act;

"public place"

includes any street, road, thoroughfare, sanitary passage, square or open space shown on a general plan of a township or settlement, filed in any deeds registry or Surveyor-General’s office, and all land (other than erven shown on the general plan) the control whereof is vested, to the entire exclusion of the owner, in a local authority or to which the owners of erven in the township have a common right, and for purposes of this definition "settlement" means a group of pieces of land or of subdivisions of a piece of land which are used or intended for use mainly for farming or horticulture, and includes a combination of such groups which is suitable for inclusion in one property register;

"reference mark"

means a survey mark of permanent construction placed in a township to form one of a system of such marks for the purpose of basing the survey or resurvey of the pieces of land in the township thereon or connecting such survey or resurvey thereto;

"Registrar"

means a registrar of deeds appointed under the Deeds Registries Act, 1937 (Act No. 47 of 1937), and, when used in relation to—

"registration"

means the registration of any real right in or to land in terms of the Deeds Registries Act, 1937 (Act No. 47 of 1937), and "registered" shall have a corresponding meaning;

"regulation"

means any regulation made under this Act;

"share"

in relation to land and rights to minerals, means an undivided share;

"supervise" or "supervision"

when used in relation to a survey and the field operations by any person registered as a professional surveyor, professional surveyor in training or technical surveyor in terms of the Professional and Technical Surveyors’ Act, 1984 (Act No. 40 of 1984), (in this definition

referred to as "an assistant"), means—

"Surveyor-General"

in relation to any land or any general plan or diagram thereof, or in relation to any matter in connection with any land, means the Surveyor-General of the Surveyor-General’s office established in terms of section 4 of the province in which that land is situate or such general plan or diagram is registered or registrable;

"the court"

means the provincial or local division of the Supreme Court having jurisdiction or any judge thereof;

"this Act"

includes the regulations made under this Act;

"township"

means a group of pieces of land, or of subdivisions of a piece of land, which are combined with public places and are used mainly for residential, industrial, business or similar purposes, or are intended to be so used;

"trigonometrical station"

means any survey station, including a town survey mark, erected by or under direction of the Chief Director as part of the national control survey system and for which he or she has published, or intends to publish, official co-ordinate values, and includes such other stations as may be prescribed.

[Definition substituted by section 8(b) of Act No. 61 of 1998 (Notice No. 1214, GG 19291, dated 28 September 1998]