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Feature Story: South Africa's water shortage -- the future looks
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PIETERSBURG, South Africa - In the arid hills of the Northern Province, two worlds collide as the South African government applies its constitutional mandate of "some for all, not all for some" to the nation's scarce water supply. Albert Dykema surveys his corn and potato crops from a white Toyota pick-up truck and speaks of one day abandoning the 150,000 acre farm he built from scratch. Without irrigation, Dykema worries that he will suffer the fate of his father, a dry-land farmer who routinely watched his crops wither during the country's frequent droughts. "We all know that there is not enough water in South Africa for the future," says Dykema, a second-generation Afrikaner farmer. "There is no guarantee. The government can come tomorrow and turn (it) off." Sixty miles east of Dykema's farm, Butsi Mashiloane, a five-foot-tall grandmother of six, remembers the mile-long walks she made less than a year ago as she carried home a 6-gallon bucket of water balanced on her head. Today her journey takes her 50 feet to a communal tap located in front of her cinder-block house. Although she must now pay 14 Rand for the water her family uses, she feels the monetary sacrifice is worth it. "I sometimes do not have enough money for food," says Mashiloane, "Although sometimes it is difficult, I feel it is worth not having problems getting water." Five years after the African National Congress won the country's first all-race election, the delivery of water to three million South Africans like Mashiloane has been one of the government's most striking successes. However, as the government prepares to extend service to a remaining 12 million people, officials at the Department of Water Affairs say that the country's demand for water may exceed its supply in the next ten years. Many hydrology experts believe that the most likely solution will come at the expense of farmers like Dykema. "There will have to be some serious thoughts about the quantity of water used by agriculture," says Peter Ashton, a hydrologist at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. "The gravity of the situation needs to be recognized," says Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Kader Asmal in a recent departmental report. "We can no longer rely on developing yet another water source." As the ANC prepares for the nation's second free election in June, it faces pressure from voters to accelerate the delivery of basic services such as water. "We still have to complete the process of transforming the state. We need to move faster," says Thabo Masebe, spokesperson for the ANC. "The immediate challenge we have is to change the lives of all those people who have had to rely on water that was not healthy." While the ANC publicly maintains that no water will be taken away from farmers, its own water policy experts speak frankly about the need to reallocate. "I don't think we need to produce all our food in South Africa. We can import our food from our northern neighbors, where water is much more plentiful," says Johan Van Rooyen, director of water resources planning at the Department of Water Affairs. According to the Department of Water Affairs, agriculture used 54 percent of the nation's water in 1996, while urban and domestic use stood at 11 percent, mining and industry at eight percent, forestry at eight percent, and the environment at 19 percent. The South African Agricultural Union intends to sue the government if water is taken from farmers without compensation. "Taking away a person's rights to irrigate a certain area without compensating him in market terms - I think that's a major issue," says Nic Opperman, director of resource services at the South African Agricultural Union. "Eventually, you must have trust in your court system, the legal system of your country." As farmer's fight to hold onto their water, the legacy of Apartheid tinges the debate. "Let's be frank about it, underlying there is always this racial tension, because a majority of the farmers are white. And they are seen to have all the benefits in terms of having access to water. And there are what is generally called the disadvantaged blacks who haven't got the access," said Gerhard R. Backeberg, a research manager who specializes in agriculture at the Water Research Commission. "Obviously it's an issue - how are you going to reallocate?" |
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