a) The National Department of Human Settlements has subsidy-linked programmes designed to provide support and assistance in all types of settlements along the continuum where ownership or rental tenure option can be exercised. From a communal land and human settlements development perspective, the definitive role and demarcated interface between the Department and traditional leaders is expressly defined within some of our programmes and one such programme is the Rural and Communal Land Rights Subsidy Programme.
The programme was developed specifically to assist households in areas with communal tenure to access housing subsidies. The programme provides housing subsidies for housing development on communal land registered in the name of the state or which will be held by community members subject to the rules or custom of that community under their traditional authority.
Under this programme, a beneficiary community member provides proof of uncontested land tenure rights and qualifies for a new order tenure right on the portion of land allocated to him or her by a recognised Traditional Council.
The powers and duties of the land administration committee of the community is exercised and performed by the Traditional Council. The housing subsidy may be utilised for the development of internal municipal services, house building, upgrading of existing housing structures, upgrading of existing services where no alternative funding is available.
b) With respect to role players and decision-making processes, a Traditional Council must in terms of the Traditional Leaders and Governance Framework Act, 2003 (Act No 41 of 2003), co-operate with any relevant Municipal Ward Committee and must meet at least once a year with its traditional community to give account of its activities and needs. There are five role-players within the implementation of the Rural and Communal Land Rights Subsidy Programme; namely, the National Department, the Provincial Department, Municipalities, Traditional Councils; and the Land Administration Committee which came into effect after the promulgation of Communal Land Rights Act (CLaRA).
In addition, the Department has a programme called First Home Finance (FHF), previously known as the Financial-Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP). The objective of this programme is to assist households by providing a once-off down payment to qualifying households to acquire a new house or an existing house or a vacant residential serviced stand. In communal administered land or in rural settings, the FHF subsidy is provided to a qualifying beneficiary through Permission To Occupy (PTO) right that are issued by the government or an officially recognised traditional authority.
In cases where a prospective beneficiary is not in possession of such a PTO, such beneficiary may still buy a PTO-linked housing stand and build their house on it using the FHF subsidy in combination with a housing loan. No subsidy shall be provided nor may building works proceed without the written approval of the Administrator/ Chief of the land in question.