Land Acquisition Act (consolidated to 10-5-02) (iii) calling upon the owner or occupier or any other person having an interest or right in the land who— A. wishes to contest the acquisition of the land, to lodge a written objection with the acquiring authority within 30 days from the date of publication of the notice in the Gazette; or B. wishes to claim compensation in terms of Part V for the acquisition of the land, to submit a claim in terms of section 22, where the land is not agricultural land required for resettlement purposes; and [Subparagraph amended by s. 3 of Act 15/2000.] (b) serve on the owner of the land to be acquired and the holder of any other registered real right in that land whose whereabouts are ascertainable after diligent inquiry at the Deeds Registry and, if necessary, in the appropriate companies register, notice in writing providing for the matters referred to in subparagraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) of paragraph (a). [Paragraph substituted by s. 3 of Act 15/2000.] (2) Where the acquiring authority has published a preliminary notice in the Gazette in respect of any land, no person shall, while the notice remains in force in terms of subsection (4)— (a) subdivide or apply in terms of section 40 of the Regional, Town and Country Planning Act [Chapter 29:12]; for a permit to subdivide such land; or (b) construct permanent improvements therein or thereon; or (c) dispose of such land; without the permission in writing of the acquiring authority. (3) The acquiring authority may, by notice in writing served on the owner or occupier of any land specified in a preliminary notice, at any time on or after the date of publication of the preliminary notice in the Gazette, prohibit on such land any activity that he may specify. (4) A preliminary notice or a notice in terms of subsection (3) shall remain in force for a period of two years from the date of publication of the notice in the Gazette: Provided that any period during which an application to the Administrative Court in terms of section 7, or any action in any other court in relation to the acquisition of the land in question, is pending or undetermined shall not be counted as part of the period of two years referred to in this subsection. [Subsection substituted by s. 4 of Act 14/2001.] (5) A copy of the preliminary notice shall be lodged with— (a) the Registrar of Deeds, who shall thereafter not register any transfer of any land described in such notice to any person other than the acquiring authority unless— (i) the preliminary notice ceases to be in force in terms of paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (4); or (ii) in pursuance of a valid contract of sale entered into prior to the date the preliminary notice was published in the Gazette; or (iii) the consent in writing of the acquiring authority has been given; and (b) the Director of Physical Planning and the appropriate local planning authority as defined in section 2 of the Regional, Town and Country Planning Act [Chapter 29:12]. (6) Where, after a preliminary notice has been published in the Gazette, the land described in the notice is transferred in pursuance of a valid contract of sale entered into prior to the date of publication of the preliminary notice, it shall not be necessary to publish a further preliminary notice in respect of that land nor to serve a further copy of the preliminary notice upon the person to whom the land has been transferred. (7) An acquiring authority may at any time— (a) withdraw a preliminary notice, by publishing notice of its withdrawal in the Gazette and serving notice of its withdrawal on every person on whom the preliminary notice was served; (b) withdraw a notice in terms of subsection (3), by serving written notice of its withdrawal on every person on whom the first-mentioned notice was served. (8) Any person who, after a preliminary notice has been published in the Gazette and while that notice is in force in terms of subsection (4), demolishes, damages, alters or in any other manner impairs the land described in that preliminary notice without the permission in writing of the acquiring authority, otherwise than in the exercise of rights acquired in terms of the Mines and Minerals Act [Chapter 21:05], shall be guilty of an offence and liable to— (a) a fine— (i) equivalent to so much of the amount of the prejudice caused to the land in relation to the purpose for which it is to be acquired as is ascertainable in monetary terms; or (ii) not exceeding $20,000; whichever is the greater amount; or (b) imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years; or to both such fine and such imprisonment. [Subsection substituted by s. 3 of Act 15/2000.] (9) The fact that a preliminary notice or a notice in terms of subsection (3) has— (a) lapsed— (i) before the substitution of subsection (4) by the Land Acquisition Amendment Act, 2000, or the Land Acquisition Amendment Act, 2001; or (ii) in terms of subsection (4); shall not prevent the acquiring authority from issuing a fresh notice in terms of subsection (1) or (3), as the case may be, in respect of the same land after a period of one year from the date when such -4-