Amid the ongoing spatial transformation in post-apartheid South Africa, there’s a growing urgency to understand and evaluate the nation’s strategies towards creating a harmonious landscape, especially as it nears its 30th year of democracy. A prominent aspect of this landscape is the country’s national parks, which are directly impacted by surrounding activities. To mitigate these impacts, buffer zones have been proposed. However, a challenge is that these buffer zones often fall outside the jurisdiction of protected areas, exposing them to external influences. Given the goals of reshaping South Africa’s landscape, it’s essential to integrate these buffer zones into spatial planning processes. The Strategy on Buffer Zones for National Parks in South Africa emphasises the importance of clearly defining these buffer zones and including them in municipal spatial development frameworks, known as MSDFs. This chapter examines how these MSDFs incorporate national park buffer zones, analysing ten MSDF case studies from nine national parks. The results show that many MSDFs don’t adequately recognise or define these buffer zones, and they lack specific land use guidelines for them. This points to a gap in how MSDFs are being used as a key spatial planning tool in the context of mitigating the impact of land use change and development, especially within protected area buffer zones.