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(ii) The Directorate of Land and Housing has two offices - in
Pietermaritzburg and Durban respectively. The Durban office address
is Private Bag X54310, Durban, 4000, while the Pietermaritzburg
office address is Private Bag X1724, Pietermaritzburg, 3200.
(iii) The Chief Directorate: Works, Private Bag X9041 , Pietermaritzburg,
3200 (General Provincial Services Branch), is responsible for the
construction and maintenance inter alia of hospitals, libraries,
museums, the Administrator of Natal's residence, and road traffic
inspectorate offices. The Directorate also controls the acquisition
and disposal of land and buildings on behalf of other Natal Provincial
Administration Branches.
occurred in the absence of proper planning. Transit areas may be declared by local
authorities, also by virtue of Act No. 52 of 1951, in order to take control of informal
settlements within their boundaries. Emergency camps likewise, are declared in terms of
Act No. 52 of 1951. The purpose of emergency camps, as the name suggests, is to
provide temporary services for short periods, to those evicted from informal settlements
and privately owned property. The Community Services Branch is responsible for the
camps.
Informal settlements have no official standing in law and are technically illegal - until such
time as they have been declared as designated or transit areas or a black development
area. Services in designated and transit areas (in practical reality), may be more rapidly
provided than in black development areas, in view of the population pressures evident in
designated or transit areas. The Community Services Branch is responsible for services
in numerous informal settlements and squatter areas on State and privately owned land.
The Branch has now assumed responsibility (partly on a caretaker basis); for many SADT
areas previously controlled by the (formerl Department of Development Aid. The future
of these areas is presently under discussion and will not be examined further*.
*
The situation was clarified in April 1994. According to the Department of Regional and Land Affairs.
Pietermaritzburg, the total land area in Natal. of the (former) South African Development Trust was
510 022 ha. Approximately 260 000 ha will be transferred to the control of the Department of
Agriculture for the settlement of black farmers. The remainder (mostly already settled urban land)
will be transferred to the jurisdiction of the Community Services Branch. The Department of Regional
and Land Affairs is the de iure owner of most of the former Department of Development Aid land.