MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

Driving Smarter, Sustainable Development

The City of Johannesburg’s Development Planning Department has officially promulgated the reviewed City of Johannesburg Land Use Scheme, 2018 (as reviewed 2025), which was published on 24 June 2026 and will come into effect on 1 July 2026.

The Land Use Scheme (LUS) is a key legislative tool used by the City to guide and manage development in line with its long-term vision, policies and strategic priorities. It promotes sustainable development while supporting improved quality of life for residents across Johannesburg.

The scheme outlines development rights linked to various properties and provides property owners with multiple opportunities to develop their land through different application processes. The City’s first Land Use Scheme, established in terms of Section 24(1) of the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA), came into operation on 1 February 2019. In line with Section 27(1) of SPLUMA, municipalities are required to review their land use schemes at least every five years.

MMC for Development Planning Cllr Eunice Mgcina welcomed the promulgation and praised officials who contributed to finalising the review. “It addresses challenges identified over the past five years while incorporating new development policy directives. This will improve application efficiency and support greater development and investment in the City.”

Key revisions include updated definitions, improved site development plan requirements, expanded economic opportunities for homeowners, stronger support for low-carbon development, and provisions for transitional informal settlement areas.

The reviewed scheme comes into operation on 01 July 2026.

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Top Star Drive-In: Destroyed by What Created it

However, the very thing that created the Top Star eventually destroyed it. Because the early miners had used crude methods, the Ferreira Dump—and dozens of others like it—still contained significant traces of gold. As the price of gold rose and new chemical extraction technologies (like the carbon-in-pulp process) made it profitable to “mine the waste,” the ground beneath the Top Star became more valuable than the cinema itself. In 2006, despite fierce opposition from heritage groups who argued that the dump and the drive-in were culturally significant landmarks, the projectors were turned off for the last time.

The reclamation of the dump was a staggering industrial feat. Starting in 2008, mining giant DRDGold used high-pressure water cannons to “monitor” the dump, turning 5 million tons of solid earth back into a liquid slurry. This slurry was then piped 40 kilometers across the province to a processing plant in Brakpan. By 2011, the “mountain” had completely vanished. The 50-meter-high plateau that had dominated the southern skyline for a century was reduced to a flat, dusty crater.

The disappearance of the Top Star is a poignant symbol of Johannesburg’s “extractive” nature. It is a city that consumes itself to stay alive; even its historical landmarks are subject to the fluctuating price of minerals on the London and New York stock exchanges. Today, if you drive along the M2, there is an empty space in the sky where the Top Star used to be. While the reclamation removed a source of toxic dust and “acid mine drainage,” it also erased a piece of the city’s collective memory. The land where the gold-flecked mountain once stood is now being rehabilitated for light industrial use, proving that in eGoli, even the horizon is for sale if there’s enough gold hidden inside it.