COMMUNAL PROPERTY ASSOCIATIONS

DIRECTOR-GENERAL’S OVERVIEW
When the Department engages in the final drive, to ensure
that all CPAs comply with the Act and Regulations, special
emphasis will be placed on those that have been regularized
to ensure that they don’t retrogress. This will be done through
sustained capacity building exercises in all provinces. At the
core of such exercises will be the building of capacity within
provinces to ensure that support becomes available where it
is needed, at the time it is needed and with minimal costs to
the CPAs.
The picture of CPAs that has emerged from the pilot phase of
regularization, shows that the solutions to the problems
facing none-compliant CPAs are varied. The challenges
encountered during the regularization phase include the
following: inappropriate CPA constitutions, no sense of
community amongst members, fights over CPA resources, CPA
committees fighting with tribal authorities, lack of
management skills, uncertainty about CPA membership, land
invasions, delayed transfer of land to CPAs, disregard for
allocated individual rights, unceasing litigation amongst
members, lack of institutional support, lack of operating
capital and poor information management.
It is clear that some challenges lie with the entity itself
whereas others were created by lack of monitoring and
evaluation of the activities of the CPAs.
Proposed amendments to the Communal Property
Associations Act are aimed at addressing challenges
emanating from this lack of institutional support. There will
be stricter enforcement of the sanctions provided for in the
Act where the departmental efforts are deliberately
obstructed by individuals within and outside the CPA in order
to create a climate within which the resources of the CPAs can
be plundered to the detriment of its members. Both civil and
criminal action will be applied where the provisions of the Act
are deliberately circumvented. When a CPA has been
regularized, the focus will shift to the developmental aspect
to ensure that the members derive maximum benefits from
the operations of their entity while they make a meaningful
contribution to the economy and lessening their dependence
on the social welfare programmes of government.
6