The Rules the Valley Lives By

Working pages, open for review

The pages in this section are published while they are still being checked, so that people who know each law, and people it affects, can correct them. They explain the rules in plain language, and they do not give legal advice or speak for the Forum, the municipality, or any other body. The official text of each rule, linked on its page, is what counts. Before you act on anything here, read the official text or ask the body that administers the rule. To correct or add to a page, see How to Submit.

This section gathers the rules that apply in the valley today: national Acts, Western Cape laws, the by-laws and plans of Theewaterskloof Municipality, and, in time, the rules communities in the valley have made for themselves. Each rule has its own page. Every page explains what the rule does, and then what it means in the valley: for Greyton and Heuwelkroon, for Farm 39 and the mission settlements, and for the farms. Many rules land differently on either side of the old fence between Greyton and Genadendal, and the pages say so.

A rule is included when it governs something an initiative, idea, or village on this site actually does: a permission, licence, registration, duty, or right that people in the valley run into. The laws that shaped the valley in the past are on The Laws That Shaped the Valley.

The rules

How the levels fit together

Where to start

• Starting a business from home or a farm: Zoning Scheme By-law and Municipal Land Use Planning By-law.
• Working on or near an old building: National Heritage Resources Act.
• Land on Farm 39: Transformation of Certain Rural Areas Act, Communal Property Associations Act, and Interim Protection of Informal Land Rights Act.
• Having a say in what the municipality does: Theewaterskloof Integrated Development Plan, Municipal Systems Act, and Municipal Structures Act.
• Water, rivers, and fire: National Water Act and National Veld and Forest Fire Act.
• Holding an event or guiding visitors: Events By-law and Tourism Act.

Still to come

These rules have been identified as relevant and do not yet have a page:

• Land and tenure: the Extension of Security of Tenure Act 62 of 1997, for people living on farms; the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act 19 of 1998; Theewaterskloof’s Immovable Property By-law and Commonage By-law.
• Local government and services: Theewaterskloof’s Water and Sanitation Services By-law, Credit Control and Debt Collection By-law, Property Rates By-law, Tariff By-law, and indigent support policy; the Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003 and the municipality’s supply chain management policy, which bear on local procurement.
• Environment: the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 and its environmental impact assessment regulations; the Alien and Invasive Species Regulations under the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004; the Conservation of Agricultural Resources Act 43 of 1983; Theewaterskloof’s Nature Reserves By-law.
• Water: Theewaterskloof’s Irrigation Water By-law.
• Business and tourism: Theewaterskloof’s Informal Trading By-law, Outdoor Advertising and Signage By-law, and Liquor Trading Days and Hours By-law.
• Organisations: the Co-operatives Act 14 of 2005; the Nonprofit Organisations Act 71 of 1997; the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013, which this site follows in its Data Policy.
• Animals: Theewaterskloof’s Impoundment of Animals By-law and its by-law on nuisances from keeping animals; the Animals Protection Act 71 of 1962.
• Fire and safety: Theewaterskloof’s Community Fire Safety By-law.
• Community rules: Greyton’s leiwater turns, the Transformasie Komitee’s mandate, and the constitutions of bodies such as the Zonderend Water Users Association, each drafted only from the body’s own documents and with its agreement.

If you know of a rule that shapes life or work in the valley and is missing here, tell the moderators through How to Submit.

How these pages are kept current

Each page records the date it was last checked. Every page is checked again each year after the municipality adopts its IDP and budget, usually in May or June, and whenever a rule is amended.

Related

• The Laws That Shaped the Valley
• Next Door, Different Rules
• The Municipality
• Governance