West Coast farmers launched an urgent application in the Western Cape High Court yesterday concerning water rights, which may have far-reaching consequences for agriculture, reports News24. At the heart of the case is whether it is lawful for irrigation boards to approve the transfer of water rights from one farm to another in a board's area of jurisdiction. Irrigation boards have been doing this for years with the knowledge of the Department of Water and Sanitation, functioning as 'water management institutions' in terms of the National Water Act.

In January, the department sent out a circular saying it was unlawful for irrigation boards to do so. The fear is that the system may fail if decisions about water rights transfers now have to be decided by a few officials in Pretoria, instead of being dealt with by irrigation boards around the country, each with an intimate knowledge about the farming situation in its area.

Without water rights, many farms could not function.

Wittewater Boerdery Pty Ltd and Groot Winterhoek Koelkamers, farming operations near Piketberg, have launched court proceedings against the Minister and the Department of Water and Sanitation regarding the temporary transfer of water rights.

Wittewater Boerdery is asking the court to allow it to transfer 227 hectares of its water use rights to the farm Zanddrift near Malmesbury, pending a decision by the Water Tribunal. The companies have approached the court on an urgent basis as they say the Water Tribunal is dysfunctional because it has no chair and is unlikely to have one appointed until April 2019.

In the meantime, crops have to be irrigated.

The companies have also asked the court to rule that the Minister and Department of Water and Sanitation shall not interfere with the transfer of these rights.

Full News24 report