Recently drafted regulations in South Africa are provoking anger over water use for whites. The country continues to grapple with the concept of a racial quota policy aimed at addressing inequalities through apartheid.
Last month, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) government published draft regulations that would put in place racial quotas for the allocation of water licenses to companies.
The proposal requires all water consumption applicants, where water is removed from available materials without reverting to a resource formula, to assign percentages to blacks based on land length. Commercial homeowners who need to use more water have a higher percentage of black homeownership.
The move was noted as part of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s efforts to redress South Africa’s historic racial injustices. In April, Ramaphosa signed into law the new law amending the Employment Equity Act, an amendment to a 1998 law with new measures to promote diversity and fairness in the workplace, adding racial quotas for 18 economic sectors.
On Thursday, opposition leader John Steenhuisen of the Democratic Alliance (DA) criticised the proposal targeting water use, saying: “There is no longer any doubt that the ANC, led by Cyril Ramaphosa, is reintroducing racial discrimination into all sectors of society on a scale noted since 1994. “
“They’re doing it with the goal of divide and rule,” Steenhuisen said in a news release. “The ANC knows it is on track to lose its majority in 2024 and hopes to use racial quotas to incite the racial department for electoral purposes. “
The proposed quota through the ANC would have no effect on individual water consumption, but the water licenses that would be affected are imperative for agricultural, forestry and mining companies, which want plenty of water to operate.
According to the draft ANC regulation, commercial homeowners who use more than 250,000 cubic meters of water would want at least 25% black property, rising to 50% for those who want more than 500,000 cubic meters and up to 75% for those who do. More than one million cubic meters.
On Thursday, Steenhuisen, who could upgrade Ramaphosa if the DA wins next year’s general election, argued that denying water to farmers who meet those quotas could have devastating effects on the South African economy.
“Under this race for water quotas, cattle are going to die of thirst because a farmer has the ‘wrong’ skin color. The fields will remain fallow because those who domesticate them are ‘undesirable’. Hundreds of thousands of workers, from all walks of life, will lose their jobs as the parched agricultural and mining industries wither and die,” he said.
South Africa has long implemented Black Economic Emforcement (BEE) policies. When the ANC came to force in 1994, it implemented BEE policies to reduce inequality and give disenfranchised South Africans the chance to participate in the country’s post-apartheid economy.
Because of an old law that prohibited blacks from obtaining farmland beyond a few reservations, land reform has been especially attractive when it comes to addressing racial inequality in South Africa. to constitute 80% of the population.
Newsweek has reached out to Ramaphosa, Steenhuisen and the ANC for comment.