General Authorisations as a Tool to Promote Water Allocation Reform in South Africa

General Authorisations as a Tool to Promote Water Allocation Reform in South Africa

South Africa faces significant inequities in access to and use of water for productive purposes. The National Water Act seeks to address these inequities and Introduced a public rights system where water is owned by the people of South Africa and held in custody by the state. This public trust doctr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Law, environment and development journal Vol. 3; no. 2; pp. 164 - 178
Main Authors: Anderson, A, Qulbell, G, Cullis, J, Ncapayi, N
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: School of Oriental and African Studies 01-01-2007
Subjects:
Compulsory licensing
Economic efficiency
entitlements
general authorisation
Ownership
Productivity
Public services
public trust doctrine
redress
South Africa
State
Sustainability
Trust
water allocation reform
Water rights
Water utilization
South Africa
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Summary:South Africa faces significant inequities in access to and use of water for productive purposes. The National Water Act seeks to address these inequities and Introduced a public rights system where water is owned by the people of South Africa and held in custody by the state. This public trust doctrine forms the basis for the State to give effect to its constitutional obligation for redress. Compulsory licensing is a mechanism to proactively reallocate water on a catchment basis to achieve redress, while at the same time promoting economic efficiency and ecological sustalnability. During compulsory licensing, all users are required to reapply for their water use entitlement, and a process is followed to allow for a fairer allocation of water between competing users and sectors. Some concerns have been raised that equity may not be achieved through compulsory licensing as historically disadvantaged individuals may not have the capacity to partake in the process. Similarly, the administrative burden of processing large numbers of licences from small scale users may cripple licensing authorities. Moreover, the compulsory licensing process, while encouraging Historically Disadvantaged Individuals (HDIs) to apply, may have little impact on poverty if the poorest are not able to participate in the process. General authorisations are proposed as a way of addressing these concerns by setting water aside for specific categories of users. This paper introduces the concept of general authorisations in support of compulsory licensing and outlines some of the implementation challenges.
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ISSN:1746-5893
1746-5893