Success: Water regulations aimed at expropriation withdrawn

The proposed new regulations regarding water use for recreational purposes and associated water resource management plans that were recently submitted by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) have been withdrawn.

This followed after AfriForum strongly objected to the proposed regulations as they would not only trample on the established rights of recreational water users such as anglers, boaters and yachtsmen, tourism operators and riparian landowners, but would also amount to a gross overreach of government power.

The DWS said in a short media statement yesterday that it had been decided to withdraw the proposed regulations after due consideration of the public’s comments received during the public participation process. DWS intends to issue revised regulations regarding water use for recreational purposes after all comments have been properly reviewed.

Although AfriForum regards the withdrawal of the proposed regulations as a victory for the protection of the public’s constitutional rights, AfriForum will continue unabated to fulfill its watchdog function. “The ANC government has shown that it will not hesitate to abuse its power in order to promote a narrow ideological agenda, even if a resource as fundamental as water has to be used as a political weapon,” says Marais de Vaal, AfriForum’s advisor for Environmental Affairs.

“The positive result is that taxpayers’ money will no longer have to be wasted fighting the proposed regulations in the courts – had the regulations been promulgated. It is nevertheless regrettable that the minister gave his approval for the proposed regulations in the first place, while it is contrary to the National Water Act and amounted to a blatant overreach of his powers,” concludes De Vaal.