More than R12-billion in property projects, spread across retail, office and residential developments countrywide are being held up by Minister of Rural Development and Land Affairs Gugile Nkwinti’s failure to use his discretionary power to discharge certain provisions of Section 60 of the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA), South African Property Owners Association (Sapoa) CEO Neil Gopal said on Tuesday.

Addressing members of the media, in Sandton, Gopal explained that the SPLUMA – which was signed into law in August last year and was aimed at bridging the racial divide in spatial terms and transforming the settlement patterns of the country – replaced the Development Facilitation Act (DFA), stating that the new Act in itself was not a concern for Sapoa.

However, property development applications, appeals and other matters brought before municipalities and provincial appeals tribunals had been affected as a result of the transition to the new legislation.

Section 60 of the SPLUMA left applications and appeals up to the Minister’s discretion, and applications and appeals under the DFA did not necessarily have to be resubmitted under the new Act. However, Nkwinti had not used this discretion, leaving permit applications and appeals under the DFA unresolved and leading to a significant impact on the industry, Gopal said.

Gopal added that Sapoa had raised these concerns surrounding the SPLUMA with the Minister.

“Sapoa sent a letter to the Ministry in which we asked the Minister to use the discretion given to him, in terms of Section 60 of the Act, which if used will remove some of the financial, economic and social effects that are currently being experienced by the commercial property sector in terms of development properties, the creation of jobs and poverty alleviation,” he said.

Gopal said Sapoa believed that the national elections, which took place on May 7, delayed a response from the Ministry of Rural Development and Land Affairs to the concerns raised.

However, the association hoped to have an audience with representatives from the Ministry once South Africa’s new administration had been appointed following the May 7 election.

Meanwhile, Sapoa also believed that the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act (SALA), which had been in force since 1970, was constraining property developments as it made it difficult for agricultural land to be rezoned for commercial development.

“This piece of legislation should have been repealed in 1997. It went through the repeal legislative process and was assented to by the acting President in 1998, but appears not to have been proclaimed for implementation by the President in the government gazette. This means that the 1970 Act is still in force,” Gopal explained.

He pointed out that, in the interim, government had published the Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Policy.

“While this policy has similarities to the SALA, the land reform process is also set to impact on the policy. Sapoa awaits the outcome of the consultation process on the policy,” Gopal said.