13 June 2023
by Lloyd Phillips
The African Farmers’ Association of South Africa is urging the public to read and support the Department of Water and Sanitation’s proposed regulations for compulsory equitable distribution of water use licenses between historically advantaged and disadvantaged individuals.
The Department of Water and Sanitation’s (DWS) proposed regulations to compel the equitable distribution of water use allocations between historically advantaged and disadvantaged individuals, have been welcomed by the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa (AFASA). These revised regulations introduce proposed thresholds of abstraction volumes of water against the level of black ownership in applications submitted for new water use allocations.
“This is done to ensure that there is transformation of water use allocations, to address the disparities in access to water use from apartheid,” says a DWS statement.
AFASA’s president, AJ Mthembu, describes these proposals as a “bold move” intended to address not only the “thorny issue” of equitable distribution of water use, but also the new requirements that applicants need to meet when applying for new water use licenses. This is because previous legislation and plans to date “have failed to transform water rights in the country”.
Mthembu adds that AFASA strongly believes that it is “totally unacceptable” that since 1998, 75,93% of water use rights have been allocated to historically advantaged individuals, mainly white farmers, while only 24,07% have been allocated to historically disadvantaged individuals.
“Given these statistics, it is not surprising that the agricultural sector remains highly untransformed. Recent studies show that black farmers produce less than 10% of the country’s total agricultural output. The sector is still dominated by a small number of large, mostly white-owned farms and by large agribusiness co-operatives,” he continues.
“In this day and age, it is unacceptable that 7 000 farmers, almost all white, account for over 80% of agricultural production in our country. This lack of transformation has been attributed to a large extent, to the performance of key sectors that are supposed to be supporting transformation in the agricultural sector, with the DWS being one of them”.
Mthembu points out that the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development’s Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan, which is seen as a major step towards building a growing, inclusive, competitive, job-creating and sustainable agricultural and agro-processing sector, will not be successful without the transformation of water rights.
AFASA’s president says further that these proposed regulations under water and sanitation minister, Senzo Mchunu, are a great opportunity for black farmers to partner with established and experienced commercial farmers.
“Such partnerships, if well-structured, can lead to a win-win situation that can see growth in agricultural productivity and sustainable food security in our country. AFASA would like to encourage the public to participate by submitting their written comments in support of the revised amendments as it will facilitate a meaningful participation of historically disadvantaged individuals within the mainstream commercial agribusiness sector,” Mthembu says.
The DWS’ proposed regulations suggest minimum black shareholding of between 25% and 75% in entities that are applying for new water use licenses. This shareholding requirement would depend on the amount of water being applied for use or storage, or on the size of the area of land requiring a water use license.
These proposed regulations have not been well-received by another national agricultural union, namely Agri SA.
A statement by Agri SA says that the proposed regulations are seen as the DWS’s “most radical and sweeping effort to date” toward changing the demographics with respect to water use in South Africa. The agricultural and forestry sectors appear to be the primary target of the proposed regulations. The agricultural sector accounts for approximately 60% of South Africa’s total water use. It is worth noting that the proposed regulations exempt mining companies, the state and state-owned entities, as well as 100% black-owned entities.
“Agri SA is of the view that the proposed regulations will have a devastating effect on South Africa’s commercial agricultural sector if adopted in their current form,” says Janse Rabie, legal and policy executive at Agri SA. “It is well known that the DWS envisages compulsory licensing of existing lawful water uses in the near future; a fact which is emphasised by regulation 13 of the proposed regulations. By far the greatest number of agricultural water uses are exercised in terms of historic existing lawful water uses.”
Agri SA’s statement adds that “concerningly”, these regulations are also unlikely to achieve the goal of further transformation in the sector. Achieving this will instead require creating an environment which is conducive to growth and investment in the sector, and which provides meaningful support for new entrants.
Click here to access and read the proposed regulations. All citizens have until close of business on 18 July 2023 to submit written comments to the DWS.
