The South African system of land surveying is equal to the best in the world. The country's cadastre, or parcel-based land information system, is highly accurate. Boundaries in surveyed areas are secure and property co-ordinates are recorded in a national reference system.

The first land surveyors came to the Cape in approximately 1658, five years after Jan van Riebeek had established the first European settlement at the Cape. The first cadastral survey was for a piece of land along the banks of the Liesbeek River in order to transfer land to a released servant of the Dutch East India Company.

Until 1857, surveys were represented in a graphical manner using natural features as boundaries. After 1857, theodolites were used and the recording of numerical data on diagrams was compulsory. The British occupation introduced legislation (Cradock Proclamation) in 1813 that no sale of land would be recognized unless the land had been properly surveyed and registered.

In 1971 the Sectional Title Act made it possible for the first time in South Africa for flats (apartments) and other portions of buildings to be individually owned.

Cadastral surveying in South Africa is undertaken exclusively by or under the control of Registered Professional Land Surveyors. The Professional Land Surveyor and Conveyancer work closely together to record land ownership and/or rights in a public register kept by the Registrar of Deeds.

South Africa is fully covered by the National Control Survey System (NCSS) which is of high accuracy and which is marked by a network of Trigonometrical stations and Town Survey Marks. It is a legal requirement that all cadastral surveys be connected to this system. As from 01-01-1999 the NCSS has been based on the World Geographic System 1984 ellipsoid with the position of the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Telescope as the origin of the system.
http://www.cadastraltemplate.org/countrydata/za.htm#C1