Nestor Shefika
The framework within which planning and development occur is formed by planning laws and regulations.
Old planning laws like the Townships and Division of Land Ordinance 11 of 1963 and the Town Planning Ordinance 18 of 1954 have been gradually phased away in Namibia by the government. These laws represented rigid legal structures that were out-of-date and incapable of coordinating authority amongst all levels of government. In the aforementioned ordinances, for instance, the Township Board and Namibia Planning Advisory Board were to receive planning applications from regional and municipal authorities and recommend approval to the line minister.
In contrast to the recently passed Urban and Regional Planning Act (Act No. 5 of 2018), which regulates spatial planning, the lower levels of government are permitted to organise and carry out their duties within a limited constrained range of bureaucratic authority.
Regional authorities are required under the Urban and Regional Planning Act’s Section 25(1) to create regional structure plans for the regions in which they are responsible.
This can happen despite the fact that a national spatial development framework has not been created or approved by the minister.
Therefore, the legislation acts as a shield for lower levels of government by allowing them to create regional structure plans.
To implement articles 108 and 110 of the Namibian Constitution, several planning legislations have been developed and passed since 1990. These laws include, among others, the recently passed Urban and Regional Planning Act (Act No. 05 of 2018), the Decentralisation Enabling Act (Act No. 33 of 2000) and the Regional Authorities Act (Act No. 22 of 1992). In light of this, it is perplexing to consider the fundamental socioeconomic advancements that are occurring in all regions, which also serves as an example of the congenial nature of these planning laws.
A bottom-up planning system in regions and growth hubs in rural areas, for example, are powered by these pieces of legislation through delegation.
Using the South African equivalent, which, during the apartheid era, shared a similar planning dichotomy with Namibia, that country’s national legislative body passed a comparable planning law, known as the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (Act 16 of 2013).
The SPLUMA was created as a national legislative framework with provisions that allow provincial and local governments to create and develop spatial-related ordinances that are thought to be suitable to support provincial and local development in South Africa. A notable example of a bylaw that has been designated and implemented to enable the local municipality to create its own Integrated Spatial Development Frameworks and Integrated Development Plans is the Stellenbosch Municipal Land Use Planning By-law of 2015.
Cross-referencing with the planning system in South Africa reveals that the Namibian Urban and Regional Planning Act (Act No. 5 of 2018) is a concerted effort, aimed at enhancing and hastening the ability of regional and local governments to produce their own statutory spatial development plans, which will mainstream regional development.
Regional structure plans
Regional structure plans are essential statutory spatial components for regional and local government in Namibia.
Traditionally, these plans will include the content of statements of policies, reports, background studies of the region and maps that will provide guidelines for the integrated social and economic development and land use patterns in the region concerned.
If regional and local governments adequately enforce spatial structure plans, they will be at the centre of a bottom-up planning system that will guide a fair distribution of the required resources to all people within their designated geographical jurisdictions. The importance of these plans is also linked to their focus on regional convergence, which discourages the uneven spatial economic development of regions with similar socioeconomic characteristics. The passage of this new Act should be seized by the regional and local tiers to enforce their spatial structure plans, which will be at the standpoint of attracting the necessary regional investment opportunities, among other integrated social and economic developments. Despite the applicability of the provision of the exclusively national power in Section 30 (1) of the Urban and Regional Planning Act (Act. 05 of 2018), this new Act should be embraced by regional and local tiers.
The new planning legislation’s overall goal of restoring spatial justice and resilience within a cooperative regional and local government is a good one - but depending on how willing local and regional governments are to take on new responsibilities, it may prove to be ineffective.
The Decentralisation Enabling Act (Act No. 33 of 2000), the Regional Authorities Act (Act No. 22 of 1992) and other related planning Acts will be harmonised and enhanced if our regional government correctly implements this act.
*Nestor Shefika is a development planner at //Kharas regional council and a Master’s student in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Stellenbosch. He writes in his personal capacity.