NATURAL RESOURCES
Water-use legislation offers a useful template for fair distribution of land
Organised agriculture has come to understand that while the law diluted their rights, it still serves their interests, writes Mike Muller
Unreliable and unsafe household water supplies may be the hot-button issue that gets people out on the streets and ministers jumping into their motorcades. But the more substantial challenge in the long term is to manage and regulate the use of the natural resource on which those supplies depend. The way we do this could usefully inform approaches to that other big issue — the land. SA’s water law is hailed around the world because it recognises that water use and water users must be able to adapt to changing physical and political climates. So water can offer a useful lens through which to view the land debate. Why, after 25 years, have we failed to devise land laws and policies to adapt to the fundamental changes in our (political) climate? Without access to water, land has little value, whether for agriculture or homes. So what has happened in the two decades since SA undertook a potentially revolutionary water reform? How has economic life been affected? What can we learn from t...
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