A PROGRESS
REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE WATER TRIBUNAL
2001 - 2007
1.1 Establishment
and operation of the Water Tribunal 3
2.1 The
number of appeals served before the Tribunal each year 3-4
3.1
Accommodation 4
3.2
Claims and travelling allowance 4
3.3
Office and rentals 4
1. HISTORY OF THE WATER TRIBUNAL
1.1 Establishment
and operation of the Water Tribunal
The Water Tribunal was established
in terms of the provisions of section 146(1) of the National Water Act, 1998
(Act no: 36 of 1998) to hear appeals against the decision of the responsible
authority (presently Dwaf) regarding water use rights. The Tribunal sits
anywhere in the country.
The Tribunal started to operate
around June 2001 with four members who were appointed, inter alia, on the basis
of gender and representativity. In June 2004 the present members of the
Tribunal were appointed. They are five in number and reflect gender and
representativity.
Unlike the previous Tribunal, the
present Tribunal has offices in
Since most of the Tribunal members
are always available to hear the appeals, significant costs are incurred, as
will be demonstrated latter on. The costs exclude those of the administrative
support staff who assist the Tribunal.
2. NUMBER OF APPEALS SERVED
BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL SINCE
JUNE 2001 TO JUNE 2007
After a period of six years since
the operation of the Water Tribunal approximately 36 appeals served before the
Tribunal.
2.1 Number
of appeals served before the Tribunal each year
YEAR
|
MONTH
|
NO: OF CASES
|
2001 |
MAY-NOVEMBER
|
11 |
2002 |
FEBRUARY-NOVEMBER |
06 |
2003 |
FEBRUARY-NOVEMBER |
07 |
2004 |
FEBRUARY
-NOVEMBER |
03 |
2005 |
FEBRUARY-NOVEMBER |
05 |
2006 |
FEBRUARY-NOVEMBER |
04 |
2007 |
FEBRUARY-JUNE |
06 |
It would appear from the information
provided, particularly from the years 2002 to 2006, that an average of 02
appeals served before the Tribunal in every three months.
The records show that at times the
Tribunal does not sit for a period of almost (4) months. One would have
reasonably expected the number of cases serving before the Tribunal to have
increased drastically from 2001. Instead, the number is decreasing each year.
3. EXPENDITURE
The figures provided below are not
accurate since other members had not submitted their claims yet, when report
was prepared.
3.1 Accommodation
YEARS
2005-2007 = R 12 000, 00
3.2 Claims and travelling allowances
YEARS 2005-2007
= R 250 000, 00
3.3 Office rental
YEARS
2005-2007 (June) = R 195 000, 00
The offices of the Water Tribunal
are not sufficiently utilised due to the very few appeals, which serve before
the Tribunal. On average the offices are used ones or twice within a period of
three to four months with rental of R 7 500.00 per month.
4. The appeals served before the Tribunal from
the 2004-2007
There are 36 appeals served before
the Tribunal from the years 2004-2007 .The expenses incurred to hear such
appeals amounted to approximately R 457 000,00.
5. Conclusion