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Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act, 2013 (Act No. 16 of 2013)

Preamble

 

 

WHEREAS many people in South Africa continue to live and work in places defined and influenced by past spatial planning and land use laws and practices which were based on—

• racial inequality;
• segregation; and
• unsustainable settlement patterns;

 

AND WHEREAS the continued existence and operation of multiple laws at national and provincial spheres of government in addition to the landlaws applicable in the previous homelands and self-governing territories have created fragmentation, duplication and unfair discrimination;

 

AND WHEREAS parts of our urban and rural areas currently do not have any applicable spatial planning and land use management legislation and are therefore excluded from the benefits of spatial development planning and land use management systems;

 

AND WHEREAS various laws governing land use give rise to uncertainty about the status of municipal spatial planning and land use management systems and procedures and frustrates the achievement of cooperative governance and the promotion of public interest;

 

AND WHEREAS informal and traditional land use development processes are poorly integrated into formal systems of spatial planning and land use management;

 

AND WHEREAS spatial planning is insufficiently underpinned and supported by infrastructural investment;

 

AND WHEREAS it is the State’s obligation to realise the constitutional imperatives in—

• section 24 of the Constitution, to have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations through reasonable legislative and other measures, which include a land use planning system that is protective of the environment;
• section 25 of the Constitution, to ensure the protection of property rights including measures designed to foster conditions that enable citizens to gain access to land on an equitable basis;
• section 26 of the Constitution, to have the right of access to adequate housing which includes an equitable spatial pattern and sustainable human settlements; and
• section 27(1)(b) of the Constitution, to ensure that the State takes reasonable legislative measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of the right to sufficient food and water;

 

AND WHEREAS the State must respect, protect, promote and fulfil the social, economic and environmental rights of everyone and strive to meet the basic needs of previously disadvantaged communities;

 

AND WHEREAS sustainable development of land requires the integration of social, economic and environmental considerations in both forward planning and ongoing land use management to ensure that development of land serves present and future generations;

 

AND WHEREAS regional planning and development, urban and rural development and housing are functional areas of concurrent national and provincial legislative competence;

 

AND WHEREAS provincial planning is within the functional areas of exclusive provincial legislative competence, and municipal planning is primarily the executive function of the local sphere of government;

 

AND WHEREAS municipalities must participate in national and provincial development programmes;

 

AND WHEREAS it is necessary that—

• a uniform, recognisable and comprehensive system of spatial planning and land use management be established throughout the Republic to maintain economic unity, equal opportunity and equal access to government services;
• the system of spatial planning and land use management promotes social and economic inclusion;
• principles, policies, directives and national norms and standards required to achieve important urban, rural, municipal, provincial, regional and national development goals and objectives through spatial planning and land use management be established; and
• procedures and institutions to facilitate and promote cooperative government and intergovernmental relations in respect of spatial development planning and land use management systems be developed,

 

BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, as follows:—