1、PDF外文：http:/ 6258 字 外文文献： RURAL AND URBAN LAND DEVELOPMENT AND LAND TENURE SYSTEMS: A COMPARISON BETWEEN SOUTH AFRICA AND BOTSWANA Susan Bouillon Legal Advisor: City Council of Pretoria INTRODUCTION Franklin D. Roosevelt once said that Every person who invests in land near a growing cit
2、y, adopts the surest and safest method of becoming independent, for land is the basis of wealth. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the rural and urban land development and land tenure systems of South Africa and Botswana, and to explain their contributions to urban sustainability.
3、DEVELOPMENT PLANNING IN BOTSWANA Botswana is located at the centre of the South African plateau, and is bordered by South Africa on the south and southeast, Zimbabwe on the northeast and Namibia on the west and northwest. Approximately 23% of the population is in urban areas and 77% in rural areas.
4、Botswana has a rich tribal culture, and therefore it is not surprising that the Botswana legal system consists of local tribal courts, which adjudicate traditional matters and Tribal Land Boards, which rule on land use matters in tribal lands and traditional villages. Town Councils rule on land use
5、matters in urban areas. The government of Botswana has adopted a system of development planning which has coped relatively well compared with other African countries. Development planning involves the preparation of land use plans for both urban and rural areas. The practice in Botswana is tha
6、t the public is made aware of the implications of land use plans before land is zoned for various uses. Public awareness and participation is ensured by giving land users an opportunity to select preferred land use options from a range of options determined through the evaluation of physical and eco
7、nomic suitability of land resources (bottom-up approach). PROPERTY RIGHTS AND LAND TENURE IN BOTSWANA It is the policy of the Government that all citizens should have easy and equal access to land. In order to realize this, three land tenure systems have been put in place. Tribal land covers 71% of
8、the total land area of the country. It is allocated to citizens free of charge for all types of uses. State land is owned by the state and comprises 23% of the total area. Most of this land is used as National Parks, or Forest and Game Reserves within which no settlements are permitted. However, a s
9、mall percentage of this land is allocated for residential purposes, particularly in urban centers. Freehold land comprises only 6% of the total area and is privately owned. Most of the government policies to date are therefore directed at tribal land. RURAL LAND Prior to independence, Botswana had e
10、stablished traditional ways of allocating and managing tribal land and its resources through chiefs and communities. Soon after independence, the authority to allocate tribal land was shifted from the chiefs to the Tribal Land Boards which were established by the Tribal Land Act, but the management
11、of the resources remains the responsibility of the users and their communities. According to this act, almost 71% of the available land is administered as tribal land according to an integrated system of customary land tenure. Although the tenurial rules for tribal land have been changed considerabl
12、y by this act, it is considered a very innovative way to combine individual land tenure security with tribal land-use. The Land Boards were established for a specified tribal territory, and took over the administrative functions from chiefs and other tribal authorities. Title of
13、the land vested in the Land Boards. The Land Boards were initially entitled to make customary and common law grants, for residential, grazing or cultivation purposes, to members of the different tribes living in the specified territories only, but since 1993 any citizen of Botswana is entitled to ap
14、ply for these rights. Land Boards maintain their own record or registration system and rights are not registered in the central deeds registration system of Botswana, apparently to keep them more affordable. The Land Boards are entitled to issue certificates of customary grants or certificates of oc
15、cupation. Provision has been made for the conversion of these certificates into titles registrable in the deeds registry once demand arises to deal with these certificates in the commercial lending market. Any change in right-holder must be reported to the land board in order to maintain the accurac
16、y of the record system of the land board. Shelter provision in rural areas has been on individuals initiatives. The most important prerequisite for housing development, which is access to land, has not really been a disturbing issue due to the fact that all male and female citizens are allocated tri
17、bal land for free, but in an effort to facilitate shelter provision in rural areas, the government intends to introduce a rural housing programme. Land use planning is not a new phenomenon in Botswana. Past experiences and records indicate that the traditional chiefs who had authority on land
18、have always done some form of land use planning. Formal land use planning in Botswana started with the implementation of the Tribal Grazing Land Policy in 1975, when some areas were zoned for wildlife use, others became reserved areas, while other areas continued to be for communal use. This policy
19、enabled individuals or groups to have exclusive use of land in areas zoned for such use. These rights are permanent, exclusionary and inheritable. They may only be revoked by the land board in circumstances where the right-holder fails to utilize the land on terms specified by the land board, or fai
20、ls to develop the land according to the specified purposes within five years or where the land was not distributed fairly. In these instances, the land does not revert to the government but is reallocated by the land board to other applicants. This policy was therefore a major programme through which rural development was to be achieved. The districts up to now continue to prepare and update their respective integrated land use plans. In the preparation of such plans the communities have major inputs with regard to the various land uses. This is in realization of the fact that to have an
