LAND-USE MANAGEMENT IN LEPHALALE LOCAL MUNICIPALITY

The report examines land-use management in Lephalale Local Municipality, a region characterized by significant coal reserves and the presence of the Medupi power station. It highlights the municipality's critical lack of land ownership, which forces a reliance on donations and purchases from major entities like Eskom and Exxaro. The analysis details the challenges of providing integrated human settlements, the friction between municipal regulations and private developers, and the complexities of introducing formal land-use schemes in rural areas under traditional authorities, specifically the Seleka Traditional Authority.

• The Lephalale Local Municipality suffers from severe land constraints and owns virtually no land within its urban edge; only 9.12% belongs to government, while the remainder is held by Eskom (13.63%), Exxaro (20.76%), and private individuals (56.38%).
• Due to its lack of land, the municipality relies on a 'bartering system' for land acquisition, where companies like Exxaro and Eskom donate land in exchange for discounts on bulk infrastructure payments or the reservation of housing units for their employees.
• The provision of integrated human settlements is hindered by intra-governmental misalignment and funding shortages. Projects such as the Altoostyd (Joe Slovo) and Marapong CRU have faced significant delays, leading to the theft of installed infrastructure.
• There is a significant gap in the enforcement of land-use regulations, with municipal officials estimating that approximately 80% of development applications proceed illegally without municipal approval.
• National government departments have interfered with local land-use decisions, exemplified by the Department of Mineral Resources granting environmental authorisation to Groothoek Coal Mining Company in contravention of municipal planning schemes.
• Land tenure under the Seleka Traditional Authority is diverse and contested, consisting of land owned by the Royal family, state land under traditional custodianship (Trust farms), and land bought by residents (borekoa).
• The incremental introduction of SPLUMA land-use schemes in rural areas is stalled by a lack of GIS data, a shortage of municipal surveyors, and a dependency on the provincial Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Authorities (Coghsta).
• The municipality faces bureaucratic and policy limitations, including a backlog in translating old Ordinances to SPLUMA regulations and a lack of internal support for innovative policies such as increasing the vacant land tax from R107 to R1,205.

APA

Monama, E. (n.d.). LAND-USE MANAGEMENT IN LEPHALALE LOCAL MUNICIPALITY. Public Affairs Research Institute. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/LephalaleWeb_20230309.pdf

Chicago

Monama, Emma. LAND-USE MANAGEMENT IN LEPHALALE LOCAL MUNICIPALITY. Public Affairs Research Institute, n.d. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/LephalaleWeb_20230309.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Monama |first1=Emma |title=LAND-USE MANAGEMENT IN LEPHALALE LOCAL MUNICIPALITY |publisher=Public Affairs Research Institute |url=https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/LephalaleWeb_20230309.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{monamandlanduse, author = {Monama, Emma}, title = {{LAND-USE MANAGEMENT IN LEPHALALE LOCAL MUNICIPALITY}}, institution = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, url = {https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/LephalaleWeb_20230309.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }