RURAL LAND ACT (as amended at March 2004)
PART II
ACQUISITION AND ALIENATION OF STATE LAND
PART III
OCCUPATION OF LAND BY PERSON OTHER THAN OWNER NOT
INVOLVING SUBDIVISION
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Interpretation in Part II
In this Part—
“State land” means all State land to which this Act applies,
but does not include any land held in trust.
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Interpretation in Part III
In this Part—
“property” means any land which is described as a single
piece of land in any deed of grant, transfer or other certificate
of title registered in the Deeds Registry.
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Acquisition of land
(1) The appropriate Minister may—
(a) from moneys appropriated for the purpose by Act of
Parliament; or
(b) with the approval of the President, by way of exchange for State Land; or
(c) by means of the acceptance of gifts or bequests;
acquire land on behalf of the State.
(2) Subject to this section, the appropriate Minister may
direct the Registrar of Deeds to cancel the title deeds of any
land acquired in terms of subsection (1) and the Registrar of
Deeds shall comply with such direction.
(3) Before a direction in terms of subsection (2) is given—
(a) the appropriate Minister shall—
(i) give notice, in terms of subsection (4), of his
intention to direct the Registrar of Deeds to cancel the title deeds of the land concerned;
(ii) consider every objection lodged in accordance
with the notice given in terms of subsection (4);
(b) every servitude or other encumbrance registered over
the land concerned shall be extinguished.
(4) A notice referred to in paragraph (a) of subsection (3)
shall—
(a) be published in the Gazette and in a newspaper
circulating in the district where the land concerned is
situated, once a week for three consecutive weeks;
(b) state that the appropriate Minister proposes to direct
the Registrar of Deeds to cancel the title deeds of the
land concerned;
(c) state the name, if any, of the land concerned, the
district in which the land is situated, the name of the
registered owner of the land and the number, if any, of
the title deeds of the land;
(d) call upon any person who has any objection to the
proposed cancellation to lodge his objection in writing
with the appropriate Minister within thirty days of the
date of the last publication of the notice in terms of
paragraph (a).
(5) Where the title deeds of any land have been cancelled
in terms of subsection (2) the land shall vest in the President.
(6) On one of the thirty days on which Parliament next
sits after the beginning of each session of Parliament the
appropriate Minister shall lay before Parliament a report on
any business transacted under this section during the
previous calendar year, together with a schedule of the land
acquired.
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Lease or alienation of land
Land may be leased or alienated to a single individual or
to a single corporate body but not to two or more persons
jointly, without the consent of the appropriate Minister in
writing.
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Demarcation of leased land
(1) No owner or occupier of any property shall permit any
person, other than an employee of such owner or occupier in
the normal course of his employment, to cultivate any portion
of such property unless such portion has been clearly
demarcated on the ground:
Provided that no demarcation in terms of this subsection
shall be necessary where a portion of any property has been
allocated to an employee of the owner or occupier of such
property for his own use unless the appropriate Minister, by
notice in writing to such owner or occupier, requires such
portion to be demarcated.
(2) All cairns, pegs or other similar objects used in the
demarcation shall be of a permanent nature and shall be
clearly identified by means of a number or name imprinted
thereon or affixed thereto.
(3) The owner or occupier of any property who has permitted any other person to cultivate any portion of such
property, which is required to be demarcated in terms of
subsection (1), shall keep a register of such permits to
cultivate, which register shall show the name of the permit
holder and the identification and area of the portion of the
property permitted to be cultivated.
(4) The owner or occupier of any property who permits
the grazing of stock belonging to another person on such
property shall keep a register of such permits granted
showing the names of the permit holders and the number and
type of stock permitted to be grazed.
(5) The registers referred to in subsections (3) and (4)
shall be kept on the property and shall be produced on
demand for inspection by any person mentioned in section
thirteen.
10 No share-cropping without agreement approved
by Minister
(1) No owner or occupier of land to which this Act applies
shall permit the occupation on a share-cropping basis by
another person of any portion of such land unless an
agreement in writing has been entered into between such
owner or occupier and such other person in respect of the
occupation of such land on a share-cropping basis and such
agreement has been approved by the appropriate Minister.
(2) The appropriate Minister shall within seven days of
the receipt of an agreement mentioned in subsection (1)
acknowledge the receipt thereof and if no decision has been
made within six weeks of the date of acknowledgement
thereof the agreement shall be deemed to have been approved
by the appropriate Minister.
(3) For the purposes of this section—
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Alienation of State Land
The appropriate Minister may lease, sell or otherwise
dispose of State land for such purposes and subject to such
conditions as he may determine.
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