Pretoria - Cabinet's approval of the policy to establish the Office of the Valuer-General has been welcomed by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform.
The Valuer-General would be an independent statutory body that would assist in the valuation of land, ensure proper market value of the land which is available in the country, without relying solely on the private sector, and keep records of the value of land.
Cabinet last week approved the principle of the establishment of the office of the Valuer-General. The policy still needs to be taken to Parliament in the form of a bill for the office to be established in terms of law.
The establishment of the Office comes as a result of the absence of a nationwide comprehensive, reliable hub for the assessment of property values in the country.
The Valuer-General would be responsible for issues such as the provision of fair and consistent land values for rating and taxing purposes and determining financial compensation following expropriation under the Expropriation Act or any other policy and legislation which is in compliance with the Constitution.
"This office will also serve as intervention that will help the department in dealing with the problem of people who are inflating land prices when selling to the department," explained the department.
It said the Valuer-General would also be responsible for the provision of specialist valuation and property advice to government, setting standards and monitoring service delivery and undertaking market and sales analysis; setting guidelines, norms and standards required to validate the integrity of the valuation data and creating and maintaining a data-base of valuation information.
"The announcement by Cabinet comes on the eve of 2013, which is the year in which the department will mark the centenary of the notorious 1913 Natives Land Act. The Office of the Valuer-General is one of the institutions which have been proposed in the Green Paper on Land Reform ... the success of the Green Paper must be measured by the extent to which it succeeds in reversing the negative impact and legacy of this Act," said the department. - SAnews.gov.za
