The development of a local land records system for informal settlements in the greater Edendale area.
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Date
2001
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Abstract
This dissertation examines the various forms of informal settlements in evidence in the Greater
Edendale Area, and extracts the design criteria for the development of an appropriatc land records
system to manage these informal settlements and their upgrading processes.
It is shown that the various setllement patterns in existence ill the Greater Edcndale Area (GEA)
reflect the apartheid history of South Africa and the policies of the previous governments. All exhibit
certain aspects of informality, and therefore exist at various points on a continuum of formality-informality.
Certain settlement patterns, such as the properties within formal townships developed
by the former Department of Development Aid, possess many formal aspects and relatively fewer
informalities, whereas others, for example the conventional informal settlements on State owned land,
are informal in almost every respect.
It is shown that the government's policies require informal aspects of settlements relating to land
tenure and services should be upgraded, and that the responsibility for such upgrading has been
delegated to the local government level. I will show that this upgrading of informal settlements can
be broken down into four major processes which make up the overall upgrading process. These are
land delivery, land tenure reform, provision of services, and cost recovery. It is argued that to
effectivcly deal with these upgrading responsibilities, the local government structure. in this case the
Pietermaritzburg-Msunduzi Transitional Local Council , should develop and maintain a land records
system at the local level, with community participation to ensure sustainability.
The design requirements for such a system are identified throughout the chapters, and are drawn
together in the final chapter as a set of design criteria for the land records system. These design
criteria call be represented by five main themes: firstly, that the land records system should be based
on the design of the multipurpose cadastre; secondly, that in addition, it should accommodate non-
parcel-based tenures; thirdly, that it should incorporate temporal GIS technology; fourthly, that it
should be easily accessible to the community; and finally, that it should incorporate the users' needs
and should be extremely user-friendly.
Description
Thesis (M.Sc.Sur)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.
Keywords
Land tenure--Kwazulu Natal--Edendale., Squatter settlements--Kwazulu Natal--Edendale., Land settlement--Kwazulu Natal--Edendale., Theses--Surveying.