What MPTs must consider as per SPLUMA

Legislated criteria per development principle under Section 7, SPLUMA Act 16 of 2013 — in force from 1 July 2015

statutory principles a tribunal must weigh under Section 42

old "need and desirability" test replaced by all five

The five principles unpacked

① Spatial Justice

Redress past spatial and other imbalances through access to land
Address exclusion of the poor from land use processes
Include poor and disadvantaged in planning decision-making

② Spatial Sustainability

Development within fiscal, institutional and administrative means
Protect prime and unique agricultural land
Comply with applicable environmental legislation
Limit and reverse urban sprawl

③ Spatial Efficiency

Optimise use of existing resources and infrastructure
Minimise negative financial, social, economic or environmental impacts

④ Spatial Resilience

Accommodate flexibility in spatial plans for sustainable livelihoods
Enable communities to withstand shocks and unexpected incidents

⑤ Good Administration

Planned, integrated decision-making involving all relevant stakeholders
Setting and meeting of timeframes for decisions
Co-operative governance across all spheres of government

What changed: Before SPLUMA, tribunals applied a "need and desirability" test under the Development Facilitation Act — a narrower, more technical standard. Section 42 now requires all five principles to be considered in every land use application, and a tribunal may not be impeded in its discretion on the grounds that property values are affected (Section 57).

South Africa's pre-1994 spatial planning deliberately excluded black and poor communities from well-located urban land — and the post-apartheid planning framework inherited much of that legacy. But SPLUMA, in force from 1 July 2015, replaced the narrow "need and desirability" test with five statutory principles that compel every Municipal Planning Tribunal to weigh spatial justice and redress alongside sustainability, efficiency and governance. Therefore no land use decision under SPLUMA is merely technical: rejecting or approving a rezoning application now requires tribunals to confront questions of equity, access and historical imbalance head-on, and document how each of the five principles was considered.