Municipal by-laws do not allow residents or property owners to reserve parking outside their homes or businesses. Picture: Jesse Zheng/Pexels
Residents who live close to schools, retail outlets, or other businesses – or perhaps even have social neighbours who receive lots of visitors – have no choice but to put up with people parking outside their homes.
As frustrating as it may be, the land is a free-for-all when it comes to parking.
This means you cannot place traffic cones or plant other obstructions – such as rocks, greenery, or fencing, to cordon off the area to other people.
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Regardless of where in South Africa you live, municipal by-laws seem to be consistent on this issue.
In the City of Cape Town, law enforcement spokesperson Wayne Dyason says anyone can park in any public place as long as there are no official signs prohibiting this, like ‘no parking’ signboards, or red and yellow lines.
“So you are allowed to park in front of someone’s house as long as you do not cause an obstruction or block driveways. In other words, you must be parked legally. People cannot block a public space by using beacons or anything else to reserve parking or prevent parking.”
Echoing this, Rob Quintas, the City’s mayoral committee member for urban mobility, says private individuals only own the rights to land that is included in the property they own, such as up to the property boundary.
“Land beyond the property boundary belongs to the municipality which administers it to the benefit of the general public...Parking on public streets is open to all members of the public on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to applicable laws and regulations such as time limits or vehicle class restrictions.”
In addition,, Section 2(2) of the by-law relating to streets, public places, and the prevention of noise nuisances addresses the reservation of public parking spaces, and states that anyone who does so must immediately cease upon instruction of a peace officer or metro police officer.
He adds: “The City does not support the reservation of public parking for any specific business or residence. The only exceptions to this are the hiring of parking bays for limited periods of time for the purpose of construction activity or the holding of special events.”
In Durban, eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela, says no-one, including homeowners and business owners, are allowed to reserve parking anywhere unless they are granted permission to do so by the municipality. For example, hotels can be allowed to reserve parking where there is a demarcated marking for tour buses.
Furthermore, he says all land outside a person’s home, doors, or garages belongs to the municipality. If an area is not marked as a parking zone, however, no-one is allowed to park there, including residents or business owners.
Johannesburg Roads Agency spokesman Mosa Makhalima says the City of Joburg’s by-laws states that no person may place any rope, wire, or pole on, under, or across any public road; or hang, or place anything to restrict parking, without the prior written permission of the Council.
“If any person causes an obstruction on a public road, an authorised official may order such person to refrain from causing, or to remove, the obstruction.”
Just like in other cities, the road belongs to the municipality.
For this reason, Makhalima says anyone can park there, unless the parked vehicle obstructs the entrance or driveway to the property, or parking is restricted. If the vehicle is parked for more than 48 hours without moving though, the property owner has the right to report the vehicle as suspicious.
Boom gates and guard huts
Another trend that has been seen over the past few years is the erection of boom gates and guard huts in residential streets, for security purposes. However, these are illegal in eThekwini, unless permission has been obtained from the Municipality’s roads department, Mayisela says.
In Johannesburg, the City approved the Security Access Restrictions Policy in 2018, and Makhalima says this policy allows for the implementation of a closure if the correct process is followed.
“Communities that are erecting structures without following the process are doing so illegally. Legal structures are mostly those where you can see the City has issued a reference number for the closure.”
Where there is no reference number, he says the closure is likely to be illegal.
Similarly, erecting guard huts is also illegal, unless permission has been given.
“The placement of any obstruction (guard hut structures) at street corners without the permission of the City is illegal. The structures may impair the available sight distance at intersection if not placed correctly. Therefore, this needs permission from the City prior to the place of the structures.”
Dyason says boom gates and guard huts are also illegal on public roads in Cape Town, unless approval has been received from the City.
The City of Cape Town’s deputy mayor and mayoral committee member for special planning and environment, Eddie Andrews, adds: “The Gated Development Policy does provide guidelines and requirements for retrospective gated developments. It would, however, be unlawful if communities provide booms and gates over public land without first obtaining the necessary approvals from the City.”
Explaining further, Quintas says Cape Town’s Gated Development Policy allows gated communities with restricted access on the basis that all roads behind the gates will be private roads.
“To this extent the private roads are then managed and maintained by the Homeowners’ Association and restricted access is permissible in these events. These developments are normally defined as part of the initial land-use establishment in terms of the City’s Municipal Planning By-law (MPBL).”
Boom gates and guard huts are permitted in terms of the City’s policy for the Placement of Security Huts on City-owned land.
“The policy aims to address and accommodate private security needs of neighbourhoods within the City of Cape Town without being in conflict with city infrastructure and to comply with applicable legislation.
“In the case of existing public roads, the security hut policy guides the placement of security huts to monitor movement, but no permanent or physical obstruction such as booms may be placed without the City’s consent.”
He says the City evaluates each application and generally does not allow restricted/limited movement on public roads for security purposes as roads and walkways are there to promote mobility, be it by vehicle or on foot.
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