Industry body Agri SA says it had a constructive meeting with officials from the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) on the recently published draft regulations regarding procedural requirements for water use licence applications – or race quotas for future water use.

The department has reportedly clarified its intention that the provisions regarding black South African shareholdings with respect to licence applications would be limited to new applications and would not extend to existing water use entitlements.

Agri SA says it will consider its response in light of the clarification and will finalise its comments on the draft regulations before July 18.

The industry body initially said the regulations were radical and a sweeping effort toward changing the demographics concerning water use in South Africa and that it will have consequences for food security.

DWS in May gazetted the proposed water licencing regulations that sets a minimum black shareholding requirement for water licence applications in the country.

According to the draft regulations, enterprises applying for water use licences to take or store water will have to allocate shares of at least 25%, 50% or up to 75%, depending on the volume of water abstracted or stored or the area covered, to black South Africans before a water use licence will be granted.

The Democratic Alliance on June 14 filed papers in the North Gauteng High Court to launch a constitutional challenge against the “blatant social engineering and harmful racial categorisation” contained within the draft regulations.

NEW LEADERSHIP
Meanwhile, Agri SA has appointed Johann Kotzé as its CEO, who brings a wealth of agricultural banking experience and organised agriculture knowledge to the position, effective October 1.

he started his career as a farmer before becoming an agricultural banker at Absa. After working as a corporate banker in Mozambique, he became an independent business consultant.

Kotzé returned to banking and oversaw Africa Agriculture for FNB. Since 2017, he has served as CEO of the South African Pig Producers Organisation.

“Over the course of my career, I have learned that South African agriculture commands global respect for its efficient farming practices. As an agricultural community, we need to match the natural hope that South African farmers embody with pragmatic solutions to the complex challenges we face.

“Looking ahead, we will have to challenge our thinking on what is realistically possible in the current business environment and position agriculture to leverage partnerships in the broader business and international community,” Kotzé says.

He is confident that the agricultural industry can author a new narrative and unlock more growth potential. Kotzé believes future sustainability is fundamentally a question of leadership.

On that note, Agri SA president Jaco Minnaar says Kotzé’s appointment comes at a critical point in South Africa’s trajectory. “We need leadership across so many spheres of both the larger South African society and the agricultural industry.

“In the coming years, agriculture will have to navigate the combined impact of challenges such as climate change, deteriorating infrastructure, decaying service delivery, rural safety, shifts in global markets and policy uncertainty,” Minaar concludes.