Implementation of the Communal Land Rights Act (CLaRA)

1
Implementation of the Communal Land Rights Act
(CLaRA)

• Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on
  Agriculture and Land Affairs
• 29 August 2006

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1. Background

• The Communal Land Rights Act, 2004 (Act No.11 of
  2004) (CLaRA) was promulgated in 2004.
• The Portfolio Committee instructed the Department
  to develop an implementation plan for the CLaRA
  and the related costs.

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2. Progress made to date

• DLA commissioned a baseline study last year on
  all land affected by the Act. Among other things,
  the study includes
• Existing Tenure Systems (old order rights)
• Existing Land Administration structures, i.e.
  there are different structures in different
  provinces
• Land use planning and management
• Current levels of development

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Progress (continued.)

• Development of indicators to measure sustainable
  economic development
• Audits of communities that will be affected by
  the Act
• Determination of the extent of land to be
  affected by the legislation

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Progress (contd..)

• 13 314 230 hectares make up the former TBVC
  states and Self-Governing Territories as well as
  ex-SADT land,
• 5 949 420 hectares is unregistered state land,
• 4 345 911 hectares is unsurveyed,
• 3 317 311 hectares of the land still to be
  surveyed and registered is in the Eastern Cape.
  811 000 hectares was surveyed over the last 2
  years,
• 2.8 million hectares is surveyed in KwaZulu-Natal
  and only 13 891 hectares remains outstanding.

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Progress (continued)

• 608 089 hectares currently being surveyed in
  Limpopo,
• 62 522 hectares is to be surveyed in Mpumalanga,
• 330 088 hectares currently being surveyed in
  North West,
• Only 14 010 hectares still needs to be surveyed
  in the Free State,

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Progress (continued)

• 792 509 hectares is in the process of
  registration,
• 7.4 million hectares has to be vested over the
  next two (2) to three (3) years.
• 17 130 052 hectares will be transferred to
  communities when the law comes into operation,

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Measures taken to fast-track surveying,
registration and vesting

• DLA has recently completed a BPR to determine
  complexity and volumes of work to be done
• Implementation systems and procedures have been
  developed
• Surveying has to be decentralised from National
  office of the DLA to Provincial Offices
• Registration to be done in-house by DLA staff.

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Measures (continued)

• Pro-active vesting process has been developed and
  subject to approval by the Minister
• Proposal for increased capacity to fast-track
  surveying, registration and pro-active vesting
  has been developed and should be approved by the
  Minister in October 2006

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Measures (continued)

• Draft Regulations to be submitted to the Minister
  by 30 September 2006
• Consultation on the amended Regulations to be
  completed in November 2006
• Publish revised Regulations by January 2007
• Table and gazette the final approved Regulations
  by March 2007
• Province-specific implementation plans to be
  completed by 31 March 2007
• Roll-out implementation by 1 April 2007 subject
  to the outcomes of the Constitutional Court
  challenge on the CLaRA.

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Implications for the Implementation of the CLaRA

• Expected massive increase in the staff of the
  DLA, particularly at the district and provincial
  levels,
• Expect substantial increase in the budget of the
  DLA to funds all related transaction costs e.g.
  surveying, land rights enquiries, development of
  communal general plans etc.

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Implications (continued)

• The market may not have sufficient skills or
  people to implement CLaRA, however, the
  Department is already developing a Skills
  Framework in this regard.
• END