ABSTRACT

The right to have access to sufficient water is enshrined in section 27(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996. This right resulted in the adoption of the National Water Act 36 of 1998 (NWA) which fundamentally changed the foundations of the country’s water law system. The preamble to the NWA states that water is “a scarce natural resource that belongs to all people”. The Act broke new ground by introducing the concept of public trusteeship into the South African water law. Section 3 of the NWA stipulates that water falls under the centralised control of the public trustee to, inter alia, improve the allocation, management, use, conservation and equality of access to this scarce resource. The concept of public trusteeship provides for water allowances granted at the discretion of the public trustee. This new system is a fundamental step away from the previous regulatory regime that provided for private and exclusive rights to water use. We are therefore witnesses to a transformation in which property rights in the water sector were redefined, often to the dismay of landowners. In the quest to demystify the concept of public trusteeship in South Africa’s water law, this article sets out to provide and evaluate a diverse set of property rights paradigms against which the public trusteeship-based property regime in water resources law can be measured. A better understanding of the property rights paradigm within which water as a natural resource is presently regulated may contribute to clarity regarding the nature, duration and possible limitations of individual rights to water acquired in terms of the NWA. Through the mobilisation of legal pluralism, the article provides new opportunities for construing the property rights paradigm of the NWA.

摘要

1996 年南非共和国宪法第 27(1)(b) 条规定了获得足够水的权利。这一权利导致 1998 年第 36 号国家水法 (NWA) 的通过，从根本上改变了国家水法体系的基础。NWA 的序言指出，水是“属于所有人的稀缺自然资源”。该法案通过将公共托管的概念引入南非水法开辟了新天地。NWA 第 3 节规定，水由公共受托人集中控制，以改善分配、管理、使用、保护和平等获取这一稀缺资源。公共托管的概念规定了由公共受托人酌情授予的用水津贴。这个新系统与以前规定私人和专有用水权的监管制度相比，迈出了根本性的一步。因此，我们见证了一场变革，水务部门的产权被重新定义，这常常让土地所有者感到沮丧。为了揭开南非水法中公共托管概念的神秘面纱，本文着手提供和评估一套多样化的产权范式，以此衡量水资源法中基于公共托管的财产制度。更好地理解水作为一种自然资源目前受到监管的产权范式可能有助于澄清根据 NWA 获得的个人水权的性质、期限和可能的限制。