LAND GOVERNANCE IN EKURHULENI MUNICIPALITY

This report by the Public Affairs Research Institute examines land governance within the Ekurhuleni Municipality, detailing the legislative frameworks, institutional roles, and the systemic challenges associated with land acquisition and the management of informal settlements. It highlights the tension between municipal mandates and the realities of land invasions, environmental constraints like dolomitic land, and the role of civil society in mediating between the state and marginalized residents.

• The City of Ekurhuleni faces significant land suitability challenges, with approximately 52 per cent of its land being dolomitic, which often makes residential development impossible or increases feasibility costs.
• Land governance in the municipality is characterized by high complexity due to overlapping and sometimes inconsistent mandates across national, provincial, and local government departments.
• The municipality struggles with land acquisition due to bottlenecks including high costs demanded by private landowners, lengthy state land transfer processes, and the presence of 99-year leases signed at Independence that lock municipal land into nominal rents.
• Land invasions frequently disrupt municipal planning and strain budgets, forcing the city to allocate unplanned basic services and incur high costs to protect land.
• The municipality employs 'reblocking' to reorder shacks in informal settlements to allow emergency vehicle access and reduce fire risks, though the process is criticized as a top-down approach that can ignore grassroots planning.
• Civil society organisations (CSOs) provide critical mediation and technical support to marginalized communities, including the use of GIS technology for land demarcation and the creation of group savings schemes to purchase land independently of the state.
• To address land delivery bottlenecks, the municipality has begun using land expropriation as a last resort, including earmarking four pieces of land for expropriation without compensation in 2018.
• The Rapid Land Release Programme (RLRP), implemented by the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements, provides serviced stands of 150 m2 to 200 m2 to qualifying households, with 120 Ekurhuleni farms made available for the initiative.
• There is a significant gap in engagement between the municipality and informal settlement dwellers, characterized by a lack of transparency regarding housing waiting lists and a failure to share technical reports on land suitability.

APA

Nyuke, S., Paradza, G., & Mjoli, N. (n.d.). LAND GOVERNANCE IN EKURHULENI MUNICIPALITY. Public Affairs Research Institute. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Ekurhuleni_WEB_20230329.pdf

Chicago

Nyuke, Simbarashe, Gaynor Paradza, and Noluvuyo Mjoli. LAND GOVERNANCE IN EKURHULENI MUNICIPALITY. Public Affairs Research Institute, n.d. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Ekurhuleni_WEB_20230329.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Nyuke |first1=Simbarashe |last2=Paradza |first2=Gaynor |last3=Mjoli |first3=Noluvuyo |title=LAND GOVERNANCE IN EKURHULENI MUNICIPALITY |publisher=Public Affairs Research Institute |url=https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Ekurhuleni_WEB_20230329.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nyukendland, author = {Nyuke, Simbarashe and Paradza, Gaynor and Mjoli, Noluvuyo}, title = {{LAND GOVERNANCE IN EKURHULENI MUNICIPALITY}}, institution = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, url = {https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Ekurhuleni_WEB_20230329.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }