Public Works and Infrastructure Minister, Patricia de Lille, has approved the released of 2.8 hectares of land to the Housing Development Agency (HDA) for human settlement development and the formalisation of an existing settlement at Msunduzi Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal.
This follows the HDA request for land from the department, and the completion of the necessary processes, which led to the Minister signing off the release of the land in terms of the State Land Disposal Act.
The HDA is a national public sector development agency that acquires, prepares land, develops and manages the development of human settlements developments on behalf of government.
De Lille said the parcels of land approved by DPWI for release to the HDA are vested in the department as the custodian of state-owned land.
Certain portions of the land are vacant while another portion is occupied by an informal settlement.
“The properties are earmarked for housing development and formalisation of the informal settlement. The properties are approximately 10km from the Pietermaritzburg Central Business District.
“The approval of the release of the land also enables the Acting Director-General of DPWI to provide Special Powers of Attorney to the HDA to enable to agency, in conjunction with the Msunduzi Municipality to initiate the process for human settlements development on the land,” De Lille said in a statement on Thursday.
As part of the process, the Minister has written to Human Settlements Minister, Mmamoloko Kubayi to inform her that she has approved the gratis release of the land to enable human settlements development in the Msunduzi Municipality.
De Lille said the latest release of land in KZN comes after the release of 18 land parcels measuring 533 hectares by DPWI last year for the purposes of accommodating communities, including those displaced by floods in 2022 in the province.
“In January this year, I also announced that I approved the release of 1 199 hectares of land, valued at approximately R7.4 million to assist in settling a land restitution claim by the Kaapsche Hoop Community in Mpumalanga. In addition, four properties measuring 2 050 hectares has been identified by the DPWI.
“These are two properties measuring 511 hectares valued at approximately R10 million in Mpumalanga for the Bhembe community and two properties in North West measuring 1539,3 hectares valued at approximately R8 million for the Mekgareng / Broederstroom community which were also released in January 2023 for restitution claims,” the Minister said.
Progress on Land Reform Programme
Meanwhile, de Lille highlighted that since June 2019 to date, DPWI has released 2 560 hectares of land (44 parcels) to HDA for human settlements development and 18 land parcels measuring 533 hectares to accommodate communities, including people displaced by floods in KwaZulu-Natal.
In support of infrastructure development, 15 hectares (11 land parcels) were approved for registration of servitude for roads, water, electricity and gas pipeline servitudes in the past financial year.
“In addition, DPWI has released 28.0055 hectares (7 land parcels) which was approved for registration of Eskom servitudes in December 2022.”
She said since May 2019 to date, DPWI has released 218 land parcels measuring 31 439 hectares for restitution, exceeding last year’s target of 10 000 hectares.
Last year, a total of 23 families in the Chris Hani District who had been forcibly removed by the apartheid regime, received title deeds to Thornhill in the Eastern Cape, where they were removed from.
“Five properties were returned to the families who were all issued with title deeds for the properties with an estimated municipal value of R10 million.”
The Minister also highlighted that since May 2019, the department has released 25 549 hectares of agricultural land (125 parcels) under the Land Redistribution Programme, this included the title deeds, which were handed-over to over 30 black farmers of Tafelkop Farmers’ Association in Limpopo in 2021.
