Working as a Tradesperson in Pretoria

Pretoria falls under the City of Tshwane, and Tshwane has two quirks worth knowing cold before you quote: building plans now go through a fully electronic portal called NAPS, and solar applications are processed even though the metro has no council-approved SSEG by-law yet. Get both right and you save yourself weeks of bounced submissions.

Which municipality governs you

Pretoria is governed by the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. Land development and building approvals run under the City's Land Use Management By-law, with building control handled by the relevant City department. Solar applications are handled by the City's Utility Services department on City-supplied connections.

How building plan approval works here

Building work needs plan approval under the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act (Act 103 of 1977) and must be designed and built to the SANS 10400 standards. Since December 2024, Tshwane has been fully electronic: building plans are submitted through the New Applications Processing System (NAPS), accessed via the e-Tshwane portal. Paper submissions out of old habit will bounce or stall.

The standard process applies underneath the portal: approval before construction, inspections at key stages, and an occupancy certificate on completion. Confirm the current support contacts and document list on the City's own page before relying on anything second-hand.

SSEG and solar registration

Tshwane's solar position is genuinely unusual. As of early 2025 there was no formal council-approved SSEG by-law, because the 2017 policy was never passed by Council and a replacement embedded generation policy went out for public comment in 2025. Despite that, the City's Utility Services department processes applications and expects installers to register.

The published route is to email the application to the City's SSEG address with hard copies delivered to the City's offices. The pack: a completed application form, a single-line diagram, a site layout, a control philosophy, an NRS 097 inverter type-test certificate, and the Certificate of Compliance. Because the policy is in flux, re-check the process and date-stamp the requirements you quoted against, so a mid-project rule change becomes the client's variation rather than your loss.

One useful local rule: no building plan is needed for the solar installation itself, provided it does not project more than 1.5 m perpendicularly above the roofline. Higher than that and plan approval wakes up. The national registration deadline of 30 September 2026 applies here, and parts of the metro are Eskom-supplied, so confirm the supply authority: on Eskom networks the October 2025 relaxation lets a DEL-registered person sign off residential systems.

Local by-laws to check

Work to the City's Land Use Management By-law and the SANS codes the NBR points at. Keep email proof and hard-copy delivery receipts for every submission, because with the SSEG policy still settling, the contractor with dated proof of a compliant submission is in a far stronger position than one relying on a phone call.

Where to register and comply

Submit building plans through NAPS on the e-Tshwane portal. For solar, register through the City's Utility Services department on City-supplied stands, or Eskom on Eskom-supplied ones, before 30 September 2026.

Reviewed by the SiteKiln editorial team, June 2026. Municipal processes are as published mid-2026 and Tshwane's SSEG policy is in flux. Confirm current requirements with the City of Tshwane. Guidance only, not legal advice.