Draft water licence legislation under fire

The Department of Water and Sanitation has proposed draft water-use legislation stipulating that certain enterprises would need up to 75% black shareholding to apply for a water licence. This appears to fly in the face of public interest and previous investments made by water users. Glenneis Kriel reports.

- Glenneis Kriel

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) recently published draft legislation in which it proposed that certain enterprises would need up to 75% black shareholding to apply for water licences. The shareholding requirement would depend on the volume of water applied for or the area covered, in the case of commercial forestry.

Janse Rabie, legal and policy executive at Agri SA, said that the proposed regulations would have a devastating impact on South Africa’s commercial agriculture sector, and in effect food security and job creation, if adopted in its current form.

“The majority of farmers have water rights. It’s well known that the department envisages compulsory licensing of existing lawful water users in the near future, and we fear that the proposed regulation might be used against them when they then apply for water licences.”

He also felt that the proposed regulations attempted to replace the current 10 considerations that were taken into account when granting licences. These included factors such as efficient and beneficial use of water in the public interest, the socio-economic impact, and investments already made by a water user in respect of the water in question.