Newly-drafted regulations in South Africa are sparking anger over water usage for white people. The nation continues to grapple with the idea of race quota politics aimed at addressing the inequalities caused by apartheid.
Last month, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) government published draft regulations that would implement race quotas for the allocation of water use licenses for businesses.
The proposal requires all applicants for consumptive water use—where water is removed from available supplies without return to a resource system—to allocate shares to Black people based on the size of land. Business owners wanting more water usage would need to have a higher share of Black ownership.
The move has been seen as part of President Cyril Ramaphosa's push to redress South Africa's historical racial injustices. In April, Ramaphosa signed the new Employment Equity Amendment Act into law—an amendment to a 1998 act with new measures to promote diversity and equity in the workplace, including race quotas for 18 economic sectors.
On Thursday, opposition leader John Steenhuisen of the Democratic Alliance (DA) slammed the proposal targeting water use, saying, "It is now beyond all doubt that the ANC, led by Cyril Ramaphosa, is reintroducing racial discrimination across all sectors of society on a scale not seen since 1994."
"They are doing so in order to divide and rule," Steenhuisen said in a press release. "The ANC knows it is on track to lose its majority in 2024 and it hopes to use race quotas to incite racial division for narrow electoral gain."
The quota proposed by the ANC would not impact individual water consumption, but the water use licenses that would be affected are critical to agriculture, forestry and mining businesses, which require plenty of water to operate.
Under the ANC's draft regulations, business owners that use more than 250,000 cubic meters of water would need at least 25 percent Black ownership, with that share going up to 50 percent for those needing more than 500,000 cubic meters and up to 75 percent for those requiring more than a million cubic meters.
On Thursday, Steenhuisen, who could replace Ramaphosa if the DA wins next year's general election, argued that denying water to farmers who don't meet those quotas could have devastating impacts on South Africa's economy.
"Under these water race quotas, livestock will be left to die from thirst because a farmer has the 'wrong' skin color. Fields will go fallow because those who till it are 'undesirable.' Hundreds of thousands of workers, from all backgrounds, will lose their jobs as the parched agriculture and mining industries wither and die," he said.
South Africa has long had Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies in place. When the ANC came to power in 1994, it implemented BEE policies to reduce inequality and give disenfranchised South Africans a chance to participate in the country's economy post-apartheid.
Because of an old law that banned Black people from acquiring agricultural land beyond a few reserves, land reform has been of particular interest when it comes to addressing racial inequality in South Africa. As of 2018, Black people only owned 4 percent of the country's agricultural land, despite making up 80 percent of the population.
Newsweek reached out to Ramaphosa, Steenhuisen and the ANC for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
