The Bill seeks to ensure an integrated approach to the management of coastal areas as a national asset. The direction outlined in the Bill includes the designation of coastal public property, coastal buffer zones that protect coastal public property from encroachment, and coastal access land that preserves access to the coast for the SA public.

“We are fully supportive of the principles on which the Bill is based,” says SAPOA legal services manager Tsakane Shilubane.
“But we believe that the Bill, as it stands, will result in confusion, uncertainty, duplication and unnecessary red tape. We fear that it could sterilize prime development land throughout SA and to this we strongly object.”

Shilubane says that clear cognizance must be taken of private property rights in the Bill.

“This means explicitly providing channels of recourse for property owners who want to defend or protect their properties.”
The protection of leasing rights should also be explicitly addressed to ensure that all existing leases and lease periods be respected.
“To achieve this, we have requested that the Bill include a provision for representation by the private sector on all coastal management committees,” he says.

SAPOA furthermore believes that delineation of coastal buffer zones by a national government department is detrimental to property rights and conflicts with existing zoning rights granted by local authorities.

“Provision should rather be made for municipalities to provide for a coastal buffer zone through the existing Integrated Development Plan processes or Town Planning Schemes, which are consultative approaches,” he argues.
Furthermore, SAPOA contends that the Bill’s provision for turning private property into coastal access land is tantamount to expropriation.

“Providing unilateral powers to take property rights away is simply unconstitutional and we strongly object to it,” he says.
As the representative organization for major landowners and property developers directly impacted by the Bill, SAPOA voiced these - and other - concerns in a detailed submission submitted to the Department this week.

“We have requested an urgent meeting with the Department to more meaningfully engage with them on these issues,” say Neil Gopal, CEO, SAPOA.