Hon Deputy Speaker, hon Ministers, hon members and our guests in the gallery, good afternoon. I dedicate this speech to Autshumato, the first prisoner on Robben Island and iNkosi yaBathwa Krotoa, the first woman on Robben Island ...
... Amakhosi aseMpuma Koloni ... [Chiefs from the Eastern Cape] ..., Makana kaNxele, Maqoma and Nkosikazi Katyi [Mrs Katyi], Siyolo nenkosikazi wakhe ... [and his wife] ... Tyhali, Langalibalele, noFadana [and Fadana].
This year marks the centenary of the 1913 Land Act, an Act that served to formalise land dispossession of the indigenous people of our land, laying a foundation for the apartheid racist policies that followed in 1948. With the promulgation of the Land Act, African people were suddenly exiled from the land of their forefathers. The Act formalised the theft of 87% of the land of African people, leaving them with 13% of the land, which was scattered in various provinces of the country.
The 1913 Land Act and the subsequent policies of the nationalist government resulted in untold sufferings and misery for black people in our country. In the past 18 years after our liberation, the ANC-led democratic government has been working hard to eliminate the legacy of dispossession, poverty and inequality that can be traced back directly to the promulgation of the Land Act. The ANC resolution in Polokwane and the ANC lekgotla in July 2011 emphasised that government should finalise, without delay, the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Bill.
The Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Bill is another important arsenal in our fight to reverse apartheid and colonial evils. South Africa urgently needs a coherent regulatory framework for spatial planning, land use management, land development and a planning system.
The Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Bill seeks to address the fragmented, unequal and incoherent spatial planning and land use management systems that exist in South Africa today.
The Bill has been through a long journey. The first attempts to legislate for a coherent and integrated planning system through the Development Facilitation Act, Act No 67 of 1995, did not succeed because of the continued existence of the old-order laws and parallel systems of land development permitted by different pieces of legislation. Since 2001, processes to develop a coherent system have been initiated with the White Paper on Spatial Planning and Land Use Management. Since then, various drafts of the Bill have been published for comments and have gone through extensive processes of consultation, legal counsel and further amendments.
The Bill seeks to provide a framework for spatial planning and land use management in the Republic. The Bill will bring to an end the persisting problem of a dual system characterised by a more sophisticated legal planning system in urban areas mainly occupied by white people as opposed to the less developed or almost absent planning system in the areas occupied mainly by black people.
The Bill is also intended to play a role in redressing the apartheid legacy that has manifested itself at different levels, such as racially-based land dispossessions, inequitable land distribution, dual land tenure systems, fragmented development and planning systems and acute poverty.
In February 2001, during the state of the nation address, President Mbeki stated that, and I quote:
Gradually, step by step, our country proceeds further away from its painful past. We, its citizens, who are very close to the coalface of change, may not easily see the steady transformation that informs all aspects of our national life. The past of which I speak is well known to all of us.
Indeed, he was correct, because some of us in the House still do not see that steady transformation today. Therefore, we are not surprised, hon Trollip, that the DA will not support the Bill, because it never supported transformation. [Applause.]
In terms of clause 2(1) and (2), once this Bill is enacted, it will apply to the entire area of South Africa to, and I quote:
Provide for a uniform, effective and comprehensive system of spatial planning and land use management for the Republic.
It will also ensure a system that promotes social and economic inclusion. Clause 3(e) provides that this Bill, when it comes into operation, will assist, and I quote:
... to redress the imbalances of the past and to ensure that there is equity in the application of spatial planning and land use management systems.
The legacies of colonial and apartheid governments and related social engineering are intrinsically connected to the spatial organisation of South Africa. It is a legacy characterised by planning dualism, to which I have just referred, which in the vast majority of the former independent TBVC homelands and self-governing territories of Gazankulu, KaNgwane, KwaNdebele, KwaZulu, Lebowa and Qwaqwa was carried out outside the planning system and was governed by a variety of different pieces of legislation.
Therefore, this Bill is transformative and also seeks to clarify the role of institutions such as traditional councils that, since time immemorial, have had the responsibility to take decisions on matters relating to land administration and use.
Section 211(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa provides that, and I quote:
The institution, status and role of traditional leadership, according to customary law, are recognised, subject to the Constitution.
The majority of municipalities perform their functions on land that has historically been under the authority of traditional councils as customary native authorities since the time of colonial conquests and apartheid rule. During public participation on this Bill, the Portfolio Committee on Rural Development and Land Reform received notice of many critical issues and has ensured that, in the Bill, such issues are dealt with. One of the crucial questions was who holds sway between a municipality and a traditional council that are expected to work together?
The Bill provides for consultations during preparations of the national, provincial, as well as municipal spatial development frameworks. With regard to land use management, clause 23(2) provides, and I quote:
A municipality, in the performance of its duties, in terms of this Chapter, must allow the participation of a traditional council.
Cebekhulu ohloniphekileyo, Nkosi yam, bendifuna ukugxila kakhulu kulo mcimbi kuba izinkosi ziza kuba nonxibelelwano nooMasipala, zisebenzisane ukuqinisekisa ukuba umhlaba usetyenziswa ekwandiseni ukuncedisa abantu bakuthi. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[The Hon Cebekhulu, my Chief, I wanted to emphasise this matter more, because the chiefs are going to interact with the municipalities, working together to make sure that the land is used mostly to benefit our people.]
The Bill makes clear the intent for public participation in development of land use schemes. In clause 24(2)(c) the Bill provides that an adopted land use scheme must, and I quote:
... include provisions that permit the incremental introduction of land use management and regulation in areas under traditional leadership, rural areas and informal settlements. With the enactment of this Bill, the days when cities continued to be designed for the well educated and the wealthy to the exclusion of the poor will be numbered. This Bill will reduce the burden of the poor who are forced to travel to and from the city as they cannot afford to stay in the major urban centres. With the passing of this Bill, we will be fulfilling our duty to redress the ills of both colonialism and apartheid.
In conclusion, let me close with the following quote from Nkosi Luthuli, following the treason trial. I quote:
What the future has in store for me, I do not know. I only pray to the Almighty to strengthen my resolve so that nothing may deter me from striving, for the sake of the good name of our beloved country, to make it a true democracy and a true union of all the communities in the land.
The ANC supports the Bill. I thank you. [Applause.]