Progress with Water Allocation Reform in South Africa - Water and Agriculture: Sustainability, Markets and Policies - page 360

All elements of integrated water resources management (IWRM) are factored into the
WAR programme; however, particular emphasis is given to the socio-political dimension
of IWRM to help remove the perception of IWRM as a techno-centric process with the
“people element” being incidental. In South Africa, the engineering, technical and
scientific disciplines have traditionally featured prominently in IWRM creating and
reinforcing perceptions of this exclusivity. An envisaged outcome from the WAR
programme is the “socialisation” of IWRM, particularly by bringing together land- and
water-use management and actively engaging people in the management of both
resources. Although WAR is primarily socio-political in its focus, it is supported and
informed by a wide range of specific considerations, including inter alia legal, technical,
scientific, institutional, environmental, financial and economic issues.
The race and gender re-distributive component of the WAR programme is given
specific attention because, to date, little concerted action has been taken to address this
socio-political element of IWRM in South Africa. As the country enters its second
decade of democracy, this lack of progress has the potential for conflagration, resulting
from the impatience of the historically disadvantaged majority in the country. On the flip
side, the minority historically advantaged sector are insecure regarding their historic
entitlements to water use.
In the introduction to the National Water Policy (DWAF, 1997b) it is stated that “The
new water policy embodies our national values of reconciliation, reconstruction and
development so that water is shared on an equitable basis, so that the needs of those
without access to water in their daily lives are met, so that the productive use of water in
our economy is encouraged, and so that the environment which provides us with water
and which sustains our life and economy is protected.” Accordingly, in support of
government's commitment to nation building in forging “A South Africa that truly
belongs to all”, the WAR programme was designed to contribute to the socio-political
and economic stability of the country in its implementation, but also to tangibly engage
IWRM and give substance to its ideals from a socio-centric perspective. This paper
follows on earlier publications and presentations on the programme and provides an
update on progress.
2. Legislative provisions and considerations — A recap
The previous water law, which was based on the Roman and Dutch riparian rights
principle, gave access to the resource to those who owned land. The minority white
population (3 per cent) owned approximately 87 per cent of the land and a land reform
programme was established to address this anomaly (Ashwin R Seetal & Gavin Quibell,
2003a). Although the riparian rights principle and the concepts of public and private
water have been abolished, their legacy still endures and all lawful water use in terms of
these and other relevant statutes are recognised by the current National Water Act (NWA)
and are accommodated within the WAR programme (Ashwin R Seetal & Gavin Quibell,
2003b).
Water use under the previous legislation was also allowed on the basis of the
availability of water and priority of application for its use, i.e. on a first-come-first-served
basis. Most of this was largely unregulated, also because of the principle of riparian
rights and the concepts of “public” and “private” water and “normal” and “surplus”
flows. Regulation of water use was greatest in the Government Water Control areas, i.e.
areas where the previous government had developed the resource by building dams,