LAND GOVERNANCE IN EKURHULENI MUNICIPALITY

The report examines land governance in the Ekurhuleni Municipality, highlighting the complexities of managing land across multiple government spheres and the persistent challenge of informal settlements. It details the roles of municipal departments, the impact of dolomitic land on development, and the influence of civil society organisations in mediating between the state and the urban poor. The document also outlines strategies for land acquisition, the Rapid Land Release Programme, and the use of reblocking to manage informal dwellings.

• Ekurhuleni faces significant land suitability challenges, with approximately 52 per cent of its land being dolomitic, which often makes residential development impossible or limits its scale.
• The municipality struggles with land acquisition due to high costs, lengthy court battles with private landowners, and delays in transferring state-owned land.
• 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 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 farms availed in Ekurhuleni.
• Civil society organisations (CSOs) such as FEDUP and Utshani provide critical support to the urban poor through group savings schemes to purchase land and by providing technical expertise in GIS and land-use planning.
• The municipality uses 'reblocking' to reorder shacks into standard blocks to allow emergency services access, though the process is sometimes criticised as a top-down approach that ignores grassroots planning.
• Institutional coordination is hindered by departmental silos and inconsistent mandates between national, provincial, and local government spheres.
• In 2018, the municipality identified four pieces of land for expropriation without compensation as a last resort to overcome land delivery bottlenecks.
• Informal settlements are driven by housing delivery bottlenecks, high migration, and the exclusion of foreign nationals from formal housing systems.

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} }