Local Government, Environ-mental Affairs and Development Planning

1. (a) In what way do illegal land invasions erode the formal and/or informal urban edges of human settlements,

Land invasions do on occasion erode the urban edges of towns. When the Department of Human Settlements receives project applications from municipalities, the professional planners within the Department ensure that the project falls within the urban edge and adheres to both the provincial and municipal Spatial Development Frameworks.

In case where encroachment occurs, municipalities are requested to intervene and relocate beneficiaries in order for the project to proceed, and to adhere to the project requirements as stipulated by DEADP.

Project applications are also circulated to the relevant divisions within DEADP for comment, before being approved by the Department of Human Settlements. There were some exceptions where projects were outside the urban edge and required the municipalities to review/adjust their Spatial Development Frameworks (SDFs) to allow the project to proceed. These are in specific circumstances where the project specific constraints (bulk services, land availability/costs, etc) did not allow for an alternative site to be found.

However, informality and community growth do necessitate the constant review and adjustments of these edges, at least on a 5-year time frame, consistent with municipal planning. It therefore becomes critical to plan pro-actively with the communities to prevent illegal invasions and the complexities associated with it.

(b) what is the impact of this in the (i) short and (ii) long term and,

The land invasions do cause many challenges across the 3 spheres of government. Firstly, the onus is on government to provide access to a safe and healthy living environment, i.e. to address basic needs. Water and sanitation provision to the communities has become a local government expense which is unplanned in these instances.

Secondly, should the households be living in a dangerous/unsafe environment, it implies that they need to be relocated, which sometimes leads to the perception that invaders are “queue-jumping” the housing waiting list ahead of beneficiaries.

Thirdly, this has a ripple effect upon other departments’ budgets, programmes and commitments as they need to prioritise these nodes in providing for socio-economic facilities. The alignment of these budgets can run into the long-term horizon. Thus, it is imperative to contain the urban edge as much as possible.

Over the long term it becomes an option that an Upgrade of Informal Settlements Programme (UISP) project will be packaged for that specific settlement, which impacts on the Department’s and the municipal revenue.

(c) what measures are in place to manage the eroding of urban edges;

Municipalities and the Department of Human Settlements have allocated budgets towards additional security services (such as the Red Ants, etc), to bolster the SAPS efforts to contain invasions.

This budget is unsustainable though and has become quite sizeable in recent years. The budget also eats in into the Human Settlements Development Grant budget which should be used for human settlements construction.

The municipalities also have anti-land invasion divisions which constantly track the growth of settlements. In certain instances, the municipality’s law enforcement officials work very closely with the SAPS and the added security to co-ordinate efforts.

2. Whether his Department has engaged with the provincial Department of Human Settlements, other provincial entities, municipalities and/or the national government on this matter; if so, (a) what is the nature of these discussions and

DHS has engaged with DEADP in a two-pronged approach. At a project specific level, where land invasions are occurring on committed and planned project sites, a further extension of the project footprint considered where possible. These technical engagements are underpinned by the Municipal Outreach Program (MOP) with DEADP and the respective municipalities.

Secondly, the Department of Human Settlements’ Informal Settlement Support Programme (ISSP) is a partnership with DLG, SALGA and other departments. Through this ISSP Forum meeting, we have intensified our engagements with DEADP since 2018, to find an accelerated path towards EIA approvals for example, which yield fruitful responses, for example in the Du Noon de-densification initiative (during lockdown).

(b) what pertinent outcomes mitigate the risks?

The Department of Human Settlements’ Land and Asset Management Directorate have developed a special operating procedure (SOP) and Anti-land invasion template, to assist municipalities in identifying and preparing for a quick response to invasions.

This will hopefully curtail invasions and this SOP has been distributed to all municipalities in the Western Cape. Similarly, where future projects and land development has been identified, the department is currently securing the sites using its own budget, to prevent invasions. The local municipalities are encouraged to also budget and/or bolster their resources to be able to jointly protect the identified sites at risk.