South Africa’s various architectural bodies have agreed to jointly create a Technical Task Team (TTT) to assist municipalities to deal with their dysfunctional planning approvals processes. These dysfunctions are hampering national development and becoming a serious issue for the architectural profession. The bodies concerned are Freedom Architecture Consulting Empowerment, the South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP), the South African Institute of Architectural Technologists, the South African Institute of Draughting, and the KwaZulu-Natal Institute for Architecture.

The creation of the TTT was agreed at a joint high-level meeting of these associations in Durban (eThekwini municipality) on Wednesday. The meeting was originally intended to be primarily focused on the persisting systemic inadequacies of eThekwini’s municipal planning system. But it was realised that these problems were found in municipalities all across the country and that it was a national crisis.

The main issues discussed at the meeting were the continuing inefficiencies in the e-portal systems of many municipalities; application turnaround times that were completely unacceptable; the lack of transparency around the readiness of municipal systems and around operational timelines; and that the long delays in approvals were having detrimental socioeconomic effects. It was highlighted that municipalities urgently needed to align their practices and procedures with legal standards, as well as improve the efficiency of their operations.   

The TTT was mandated to undertake four tasks. These are – to work with local municipalities and other relevant authorities; to help streamline the processes for building plan applications; to encourage compliance with the regulations; and to restore the confidence of the people and the profession in the municipal planning systems.

“This collaborative initiative signals a strong, unified commitment from the architectural profession to defend its integrity, drive regulatory reform, and ensure that municipal systems facilitate rather than obstruct the vital role architecture plays in South Africa’s development,” stated SACAP.