Appèlverhoordatum bekend gemaak
Die datum van die appèlverhoor in die saak rondom die oordrag van watergebruiksregte is bekend gemaak. Die Registrateur van die Hoogste Hof van Appèl in Bloemfontein het die appèlverhoor vir die volgende drie sake geskeduleer vir 20 Augustus 2021: Casper Johannes Lotter N.O. & Others v The Minister of Water and Sanitation & Others; Francois Johannes Gerhardus Wiid N.O. & Others v The Minister of Water and Sanitation & Others; en South African Association for Water Users Associations & Others v The Minister of Water and Sanitation & Others.
Dié appèlsake volg ná die uitspraak in Pretoria se Hoërhof op 19 Junie 2020 waar die hof ten gunste van die departement van water en sanitasie beslis het, naamlik dat die oordrag van watergebruiksregte nie toelaatbaar is nie aangesien dit neerkom op die privatisering van water. (Ingevolge die Nasionale Waterwet behoort Suid-Afrika se waterhulpbronne aan al die mense, met die minister van waterwese as openbare trustee). Agri SA (wat die Lotter- en Wiid-sake met fondse uit die Vrywillige Waterfonds finansier) en die Suid[1]Afrikaanse Assosiasie van Watergebruikersverenigings (SAAFWUA) is van mening dat die bepalings in artikel 25 van die Nasionale Waterwet uiters noodsaaklik is vir doeltreffende watergebruik.
Artikel 25(1) van die wet maak voorsiening vir die oordrag van regte vir die gebruik van besproeiingswater vanaf een persoon na ’n ander, en vanaf een eiendom na ’n ander, onderhewig aan streng voorwaardes, deur waterbestuursinstellings. Artikel 25(2) van die wet maak voorsiening vir die prysgewing van ’n spesifieke watergebruiksreg vir dieselfde hulpbron ten gunste van ander grond/eiendom ten einde ’n watergebruikslisensie-aansoek te fasiliteer. “Agri SA is van mening dat ’n beslissing in hierdie saak, wat reeds sedert 2018 sloer en ontwrigting in die landbousektor veroorsaak, lank uitstaande is. Ons sien uit daarna dat die saak in die Hooggeregshof van Appèl verhoor word,” aldus Janse Rabie, hoof van Agri SA se Sentrum van Uitnemendheid: Natuurlike Hulpbronne.
TRANSFERS OF WATER USE ENTITLEMENTS:
Appeal date announced
The date of the hearing of the appeals in the matter concerning the transferability of water use entitlements has been announced. The Registrar of the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein has set 20 August 2021 as the date for the hearing of appeals in three matters (Casper Johannes Lotter N.O. & Others v The Minister of Water and Sanitation & Others; Francois Johannes Gerhardus Wiid N.O. & Others v The Minister of Water and Sanitation & Others; and South African Association for Water Users Associations & Others v The Minister of Water and Sanitation & Others).
The appeals follow the judgment by the Pretoria High Court on 19 June 2020 in which the court ruled in favour of the department of water and sanitation’s view that transfers of water use entitlements are not permissible due to it amounting to the privatisation of water. (In terms of the National Water Act, South Africa’s water resources belong to all people, with the minister of water affairs acting as public trustee thereof.) Agri SA (who is financing the Lotter and Wiid matters from its Voluntary Water Fund) and the South African Association for Water Users Associations (SAAFWUA) are of the view that the provisions of section 25 of the National Water Act are vital with respect to the efficient use of water.
Section 25(1) of the Act allows for the transfer of entitlements to use irrigation water from one person to another and from one property to another under strict conditions by water management institutions. Section 25(2) of the Act allows the surrendering of a specific water use entitlement from the same resource in respect of other land in order to facilitate a water use licence application.
“Agri SA is of the view that the determination of this matter, which has been ongoing since 2018 and which has had a stifling effect on the agricultural sector, is long overdue. We look forward to the matter being argued before the Supreme Court of Appeal,” says Janse Rabie, head of Agri SA’s Natural Resource Centre of Excellence.
