"applicant"

means a person who makes a land development application contemplated in section 45;

"body"

means any organisation or entity, whether a juristic person or not, and includes a community association;

"competent authority"

in relation to land use, means the authority that is empowered to grant or approve a right to use of land for a specified purpose;

"Constitution"

means the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996;

"Deeds Registries Act"

means the Deeds Registries Act, 1937 (Act No. 47 of 1937);

"development rights"

means any approval granted to a land development application;

"diagram"

means a diagram as defined in the Land Survey Act, 1997 (Act No. 8 of 1997);

"engineering service"

means a system for the provision of water, sewerage, electricity, municipal roads, stormwater drainage, gas and solid waste collection and removal required for the purpose of land development referred to in Chapter 6;

"environmental legislation"

means the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998), and any other legislation that regulates a specific aspect of the environment;

"executive authority"

in relation to a municipality, means the executive committee or executive mayor of the municipality or, if the municipality does not have an executive committee or executive mayor, a committee of councillors appointed by the Municipal Council;

"Executive Council"

means the Executive Council of a province established under section 132 of the Constitution;

"existing planning legislation"

means any planning and land use legislation existing at the time of commencement of this Act;

"external engineering service"

means an engineering service situated outside the boundaries of a land area and which is necessary to serve the use and development of the land area;

"general plan"

means a general plan approved by the Surveyor-General in terms of the Land Survey Act, 1997 (Act No. 8 of 1997);

"incremental upgrading of informal areas"

means the progressive introduction of administration, management, engineering services and land tenure rights to an area that is established outside existing planning legislation, and may include any settlement or area under traditional tenure;

"inspector"

means a person designated or appointed as an inspector under section 32;

"integrated development plan"

means a plan adopted in terms of Chapter 5 of the Municipal Systems Act;

"Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act"

means the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, 2005 (Act No. 13 of 2005);

"internal engineering service"

means an engineering service within the boundaries of a land area which is necessary for the use and development of the land area and which is to be owned and operated by the municipality or service provider;

"land"

means any erf, agricultural holding or farm portion, and includes any improvement or building on the land and any real right in land;

"land development"

means the erection of buildings or structures on land, or the change of use of land, including township establishment, the subdivision or consolidation of land or any deviation from the land use or uses permitted in terms of an applicable land use scheme;

"land use"

means the purpose for which land is or may be used lawfully in terms of a land use scheme, existing scheme or in terms of any other authorisation, permit or consent issued by a competent authority, and includes any conditions related to such land use purposes;

"land use management system"

means the system of regulating and managing land use and conferring land use rights through the use of schemes and land development procedures;

"land use scheme"

means the documents referred to in Chapter 5 for the regulation of land use;

"MEC"

means a member of the Executive Council of a province;

"Minister"

means the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform;

"municipal area"

means the area of jurisdiction of a municipality in terms of the Local Government: Municipal Demarcation Act, 1998 (Act No. 27 of 1998);

"Municipal Council"

means a Municipal Council referred to in section 157 of the Constitution;

"Municipal Planning Tribunal"

means a Municipal Planning Tribunal referred to in Chapter 6;

"Municipal Systems Act"

means the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act No. 32 of 2000);

"municipality"

means the municipality as envisaged in section 155(1) of the Constitution, and for the purposes of this Act includes a municipal department, the Municipal Council and the municipal manager, where the context so requires;

"open space"

in relation to a land area, means land set aside or to be set aside for the use by a community as a recreation area, irrespective of the ownership of such land;

"organ of state"

means an organ of state as defined in section 239 of the Constitution;

"owner"

means the person registered in a deeds registry as the owner of land or who is the beneficial owner in law;

"person"

means any natural or juristic person, including an organ of state;

"public place"

means any open or enclosed place, park, street, road or thoroughfare or other similar area of land shown on a general plan or diagram which is for use by the general public and is owned by or vests in the ownership of a Municipal Council, and includes a public open space and a servitude for any similar purpose in favour of the general public;

"publish"

means the publication of a general notice in the Gazette;

"region"

in relation to a regional spatial development framework, means a circumscribed geographical area characterised by distinctive economic, social or natural features which may or may not correspond to the administrative boundary of a province or provinces or a municipality or municipalities;

"Registrar of Deeds"

means the Registrar of Deeds as defined in the Deeds Registries Act;

"restrictive condition"

means any condition registered against the title deed of land restricting the use, development or subdivision of the land concerned;

"servitude"

means a servitude registered against a title deed of land;

"spatial development framework"

means a spatial development framework referred to in Chapter 4;

"Surveyor-General"

means the Surveyor-General as defined in the Land Survey Act, 1997 (Act No. 8 of 1997);

"this Act"

includes the regulations made in terms of this Act;

"title deed"

means any deed registered in a Deeds Registry recording the ownership of land or a real right in land;

"township register"

means an approved subdivision register of a township in terms of the Deeds Registries Act;

"township"

means an area of land divided into erven, and may include public places and roads indicated as such on a general plan;

"zone"

means a defined category of land use which is shown on the zoning map of a land use scheme.