The residential area at the Kluitjieskraal Forestry Station, known as Swanenbergpark, is situated adjacent to the Pine Valley residential area to the east of Wolseley. Kluitjieskraal was one of the first forest stations to be established as a labour and housing node for the Department of Forestry and subsequently became the property of SAFCOL. The residential village grew over the years to the current extent of some 80 units. The residents have always had lessee status only. Most of the existing residents have always lived at Kluitjieskraal and have expressed their wish to obtain ownership of the housing units. An initiative is currently underway to transfer ownership to eligible participants.

Kluitjieskraal and Waterval are two small settlements within the jurisdiction of Witzenberg Municipality on "private" land. These settlements form part of a group of similar settlements in the Western Cape which is characterised by a lack of formal township establishment, a single owner in the form of parastatal, state department or church and municipal service delivery; insofar it exists, delivered privately or through contract.

The communities living in such areas have an expectation; after the re-demarcation of municipal boundaries, of improved municipal service delivery. Municipalities, however, are prohibited to deliver services on private land without proper authorisation in the form of a services contract or conclusion of formal township establishment procedures.

A noticeable trend is the withdrawal of parastatal owners from their responsibility with regard to the services and communities living in these settlements. Spoornet and SAFCOL, for example, are in the process of rationalising their operations and do not longer require the maintenance of all their worker settlements. Since the land is often owned by the state, the responsibility for maintenance and service delivery shifts onto the Department of Public Works, with several other role-players' involvement; i.e. Departments of Land Affairs and Welfare, Local Government and the local municipality.

Three interrelated developmental challenges face Kluitjieskraal, Waterval and other similar settlements:

• Security of tenure: Formalising ownership or other tenure mechanisms on state land
• Provision, upgrade and maintenance of services and facilities: Establishing measures to provide effective minimum municipal services through township establishment or contract
• Affordability: Arrangements for the payment for and subsidisation of basic municipal services.