NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 2080
INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER [No 26-2009]
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2 November 2009
2080. Mr M M Swathe (DA) to ask the Minister of Rural Development and Land
Reform:
Which criteria does his department apply when classifying an area as (a)
rural or (b) urban?
NW2735E
THE MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM:
(a) & (b) Rurality refers to a way of life, a state of mind and a culture
which revolves around land, livestock, cropping and community.
Statistics South Africa (2009) defines âruralâ as farms and
traditional areas characterised by low population densities, low
levels of economic activity and low levels of infrastructure. The
Rural Development Framework (RDF) released in 1997 defines rural
areas as the sparsely populated areas in which people farm or
depend on natural resources, including the villages and small
towns that are dispersed through these areas. In addition, the
RDFâs definition includes the large settlements in the former
homelands, created by the apartheid removals, which depend on
migratory labour and remittances for their survival. The
Department of Rural Development and Land Reform favours the RDFâs
definition and extends the definition to include areas of high
poverty and limited capacity which includes the conventional rural
communities, peri-urban areas and âsmall rural townsâ.