Objection to Proposed Waterworks Regulations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Government Moves to Lock Out the Poor from Public Water Resources

The Indigenous Kingdoms of Southern Africa NPC (IKOSA) strongly condemns the Department of Water and Sanitation’s proposed regulations on the management and control of government waterworks and surrounding state-owned land.

These regulations are not administrative reforms. They are a direct assault on public access to water , disguised as governance.

At face value, the Department claims to be introducing control measures. In reality, what is being proposed is a systematic conversion of public water into controlled economic zones , where access depends on permits, leases, and bureaucratic approval.

A Return to Exclusion by Design

In a country where the majority of Black South Africans do not own land adjacent to dams and rivers, access to water is already unequal.

These regulations will make it worse.

By requiring:

• Formal approvals for access
• Lease-based use of state land
• Authorisation of natural entry points

the State is effectively saying:

If you do not have money, property, or institutional backing, you do not belong at public water.

This is not policy reform. It is exclusion by design .

Water is Not for Sale

The National Water Act is clear.  Water is a public resource held in trust for the people, not a commodity to be rationed through administrative gatekeeping.

IKOSA rejects any attempt to:

1. Turn public dams into pay-to-access zones
2. Replace lawful access with discretionary permission
3. Undermine existing and customary uses through bureaucratic control

This is nothing less than backdoor privatisation of a national resource .

Silent Attack on Livelihoods

Thousands of South Africans survive through:

1. Subsistence fishing
2. Informal trading around dams
3. Small-scale tourism and community activity

These are not luxuries. They are economic lifelines .

The proposed regulations will suffocate these livelihoods under layers of compliance that ordinary people cannot meet.

The result will be predictable:

1. Fewer jobs
2. Reduced local economic activity
3. Increased inequality

Selective Sensitivity to Risk

IKOSA recognises the need to regulate:

1. Drowning risks
2. Pollution
3. Overfishing

But let us be clear, permits do not stop drowning , and leases do not clean water .

What these regulations do effectively is not risk management, but people management , limiting who can access and benefit from public resources.

A Government Out of Touch

These proposals reflect a governance approach that:

1. Prioritises administrative control over human access
2. Consults institutions, not communities
3. Designs systems for those already inside the economy, not those struggling to enter it

This is fundamentally at odds with South Africa’s constitutional commitment to equality, dignity, and access to resources .

IKOSA’s Position

IKOSA calls for:

1. The immediate withdrawal of the regulations in their current form
2. The removal and reconsideration of Resource Management Plans

Explicit protection of:

Public access rights
Subsistence and customary use
Genuine, community-based consultation , especially with historically excluded groups

A Line in the Sand

This is bigger than dams.

This is about whether South Africa will:

Honour the principle that public resources belong to the people

or

Quietly reintroduce exclusion through regulation and paperwork

IKOSA will oppose any framework that reproduces the logic of the past under the language of compliance.

Call to Action

IKOSA calls on all affected communities, traditional structures, and civil society organisations to:

1. Submit objections before 13 April 2026 to the Director-General | gww@dws.gov.za
2. Resist any attempt to restrict equitable access to public water resources

Issued by:
Indigenous Kingdoms of Southern Africa (IKOSA)

Media Enquiries:
Mabusa Sebobane (alias Morena Nkokoto II)
Mobile: +27 79 369 7262 (WhatsApp Only)