Parallel planning mechanisms as a "Recipe for disaster"
Abstract
This note offers a critical reflection of the recent landmark decision in City of
Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality v Gauteng Development Tribunal
which lay to rest the negative consequences of employing the DFA procedures
of the Development Facilitation Act 67 of 1995 (DFA) alongside those of the
provincial Ordinances to establish townships (or to use DFA parlance, “land
development areas”). The welcome and timely decision in City of Johannesburg
Metropolitan Municipality v Gauteng Development Tribunal has declared invalid
chapters V and VI of the DFA. Moreover, it has formalised planning terminology
in South Africa, delineated the boundaries of “municipal planning” and “urban
planning and development” as listed in Schedules 4 and 5 of the Constitution of
the Republic of South Africa, 1996 and, in the process, clarified the structure of
planning law. This note examines the decision of the SCA and focus on the role
it will clearly have in reforming some of the law relating to planning. It considers
the facts of the case, uncertainties around terminology, the structure of
planning in South Africa, the content of municipal planning, the role of the DFA
and the consequences of the declaration of invalidity by the SCA.