A PROGRESS REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE WATER TRIBUNAL

 

2001 - 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                 CONTENTS

 

HEADING                                                                                                                          page

 

 

  1. History of the Water Tribunal                                                                               3

 

1.1   Establishment and operation of the Water Tribunal                                                3

 

 

  1. Number of appeals served before the Tribunal since June 2001 to June 2007           3                                                                                                         

2.1   The number of appeals served before the Tribunal each year                                  3-4

 

  1. Expenditure                                                                                                                   4

3.1         Accommodation                                                                                        4

3.2          Claims and travelling allowance                                                                 4

3.3         Office and rentals                                                                                      4

 

  1. The appeals served before the Tribunal vis-à-vis expenditure(2004-2007)      4

 

  1. Conclusion                                                                                                                    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 Pretoria. The offices are seldom utilised since there are very few appeals serving before the Tribunal. Of these very few appeals, some are heard in other provinces other than Gauteng Province.

 

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

 

The information provided above is self-explanatory. Therefore I cannot comment save to point out that 98% of the cases served before the Tribunal since 2001 to 2007 involve farmers and 2% mines.  The Tribunal had not come across cases which involve people from previously disadvantaged societies.