• Client:
  South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL)
• Appointment:
  2001 and ongoing
• Scope of Work:
  Relocation of informal settlers from within Road Reserve areas to areas designated for housing.
• Cost of Project:
  R3m to date

MHP has assisted SANRAL in several instances where informal settlers have purposefully or inadvertently settled on land owner by SANRAL.

The relocation of informal settlers in a very tricky operation in South Africa. The rights of informal settlers in South Africa are protected by various Acts of Parliament including:

1. The Protection of Informal Land Rights Act 31 of 1996.
2. The Extension of Security of Tenure Act 12 of 1997.
3. The Restitution of Land Rights Act 22 of 1994.
4. The Preparation of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act 19 of 1998.

MHP has a good understanding of the above legislation and has been very successful in negotiation the moving of informal settlers from SANRAL to more appropriate land suitable for housing development.

• Recent project in South Africa include:
• The N4 bypass around Rustenburg.
• A portion of the N4 near Zeerust.
• The De Beers Pass near Warden.
• A portion of the N2 near Knysna.
• A portion of the N2 near Nahoon Beach.

The starting point with these projects is to get accurate information on the location and number of households and people occupying SANRAL land. Aerial photography, GPS and GIS technology is used extensively for this purpose.

The next step is to identify land in the relevant Local Municipality, designated for housing and then to negotiate with the Department of Housing on behalf of the Local Municipality to secure housing funds to develop the land to a minimum standard suitable for settlement by SANRAL land occupiers.

Once this has been achieved, MHP negotiates with the leaders of the SANRAL occupiers to move from SANRAL land to land identified for housing development. The timeous removal of informal settlers is normally on the critical path of a road development and MHP has been very successful in moving informal settlers quickly to temporary locations pending the development of the sites allocated by the Local Municipality.