2J INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
4.2 LEGAL FRAMEWORK
There is the Town and Country Planning Act of 1984, which established a Town Planning Board (TPB), consisting of members appointed by the minister, and a Planning Authority, with powers vested in the commissioner of LSPP. The Act uses a concept of development borrowed from British planning legislation, and established a requirement to apply for planning permission for development. The Building Act, which supplements the Act, is a well-researched set ofplanning standards and development control guidelines, detailing plot set backs. (Romaya& Brown 1999)
Under the Act, the LSPP is the Planning Authority in designated urban areas, and advises on land allocation elsewhere in the country. InMaseru, the LSPP has delegated responsibility for land allocation and development control to MCC. Elsewhere, land is allocated by the urban land allocation committee, in which the Town Clerk plays a prime role.
However, the legislation and planning standards were not altered to adapt to the situation of Lesotho. Well researched as they may be, they are not quite workable to the situation of Lesotho. Therefore, there are two administrative systems operating side by side in Lesotho.
These are in the form of central government and traditional chieftainship. For administrative purposes, there are two distinct categories of spatial subdivision, and these are: -
~ Traditional political subdivisions such as wards, chiefs areas etc,
~ Government subdivisions such as individual ministries for their administrative convenience, like public works, health services, education circuits and so on However, the boundaries of these subdivisions do not properly co-ordinate and do not coincide, resulting in serious administrative problems (OOL, 1990:30).
4.3 INSTITUTIONAl. FRAMEWORK
The objectives and inter-relationships, of the institutional framework, are very important in this study, as they are translated physically. The framework is as thus: - the LSPP is the chief Planning Authority, the Maseru City Council (MCC), the LHLDC and Urban Development Services (UDS) are at par, with MCC confined to Maseru urban, and the rest, collectively, deal with other urban areas across the country.
4.3.1 The LSPP
This department was established in 1974, and its main responsibility is the administration of land in Lesotho. Itprepares and issues leases and titles, mortgage transfers, licenses and keeps records of land transactions. It also safeguards and maintains national mapping, carries out cadastral surveys and does the preparation of overall physical development plans.In addition, it provides advice on development proposals and the creation of layouts of sites for new grants (Land Policy Review Commission, 2000).
The department has failed to fulfill functions due to financ~allimitations,a shortage of trained staff and poor salaries, which do not attract quality personnel. It is also centralized, thus leading to inevitable delays especially in the issuing of leases. The department's weakness has been amply demonstrated by its failure to move ahead of illegal land allocation or to control it. There is credible evidence that this department is itself guilty of making provision for erection of residential settlements on prime agricultural lands without consultation with other ministries (Ibid. 2000).
4.3.2 The LHLDC
Itis a profit making institution responsible also for provision of serviced sites and upgrading of unplanned settlements. The LHLDC, like the LSPP, the MCC, and the UDS is answerable to the Ministry ofLocal Government. Unlike the LSPP, the LHLDC and its counterparts the MCC and the UDS, cannot carry out any work without consulting with LSPP, which is the chief Planning Authority. This goes to show that physical planning in Lesotho is still very much centralized, and the prevailing problems, of illegal land allocation, are a result of institutional constraint.
According to the project manager, the LHLDC is a parastatal body that does not have any extensive rights over development. In Maseru, it consults with the MCC and in other districts outside Maseru; it consults with the Town Clerk. All of its development proposals have to go through the LSPP for scrutiny and approval.
He went on to point out that, whenever the LHLDC faces informal settlement problems, in its development area, it first, approaches the field owner and ifitfails to convince him, it consults with the other planning bodies, which are usually oflittle help. As a consequence, the LHLDC has to get legal advice, which is, admittedly, an expensive, uncertain and time-consuming option. As it is, the LHLDC has spent a great deal of money on court cases concerning informal settlement in Ha Matala area.Ifanything, the courts have aided to intensify problems by taking too long to deal with the matter.
Land for development, is acquired through the LSPP, which sells it on profit. The LHLDC then develops the land and recovers costs through sales. Generally, it offers services such as water and gravel roads. Land is delivered as either a finished or unfinished good. The former relates to the delivery of housing for rental and/or trade; it is done through a one-stage system. The latter is the delivery of plots, through site and service schemes, by a two-stage system.
Once the site is paid for, a lease is prepared through LSPP. The LHLDC gives up the right to the land in question when the plan is fully implemented. It leaves the scheme in the hands ofMCC or the Town Clerk (outside Maseru), for management and maintenance of services.Inorder for MCC and the Town Clerk to be efficient, they have to own the project, and for them to own it, they need to adequately be involved in it. Otherwise, the roads develop potholes and shacks mushroom and choke the development area right in front of their eyes.
The LHLDC has an obligation to provide all the basic services. Its mission statement reads as thus, "to assist in meeting the shelter needs of the people in Lesotho by providing a variety of housing sites, home ownership and rental accommodation options, to cater for a wide spectrum of income levels in the most cost effective manner available."
The objectives of THE LHLDC are as follows: -
~ To achieve an annual profit based on the capital employed and ensuring that a positive cash flow is maintained to enable the Corporation to continue to operate in a financially secure and self-sustaining manner;
~ To increase the supply of serviced sites available to help meet the various needs of the people ofLesotho;
~ To assist in increasing the supply of shelter and help meet the housing requirements of Lesotho;
~ To provide quality products in a cost-effective manner in terms of a responsible, reliable and safe response to the shelter needs of all income groups;
~ To maintain a research and development programme, which ensures that the best methods and practices, using current methodology, are employed, this is to ensure a quality product;
~ To incorporate into the LHLDC projects, the attributes necessary to form a residential environment that caters for the physical and social well being ofthe community it serves;
~ To encourage as far as possible, the maximum input oflocal materials and labour;
~ To develop and maintain an organisational capability to enable the LHLDC to achieve all of its corporate objectives together with any additional responsibilities agreed to by its Board ofDirectors;
~ To maintain personnel pay and position management process supported by ongoing training and development programmes. In other words to train, develop, motivate and reward the organisation's staff; and,
~ To conduct its business in an open manner that ensures that all personnel are informed and encouraged to participate in its operations and management.