water wars

South Africa: Race-based quotas for water licences worry farmers

By Ray Mwareya

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Posted on September 14, 2023 13:59

 © An irrigation system at a farm in Eikenhof, south of Johannesburg, South Africa. (Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko)
An irrigation system at a farm in Eikenhof, south of Johannesburg, South Africa. (Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko)

The ruling ANC has drafted a water licence bill that is criticised by the opposition DA party as being race-based and threatens agriculture.

Farmer Dirk Kegta is frustrated that to get new water-drawing rights from the Vaal River in South Africa’s maize belt in the Free State Province, he must give 30% of his farm’s equity to ‘blacks’.

“I hope this is a joke, or else our farms will be impossible to cultivate and raise livestock on,” he tells The Africa Report.

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