“Less than 10% of SA’s dams are available to the public” – Hlomane Chauke

It’s certainly a statement to turn heads, given that South Africa has had to fight off the threat of drought for centuries and now Cape Town faces day zero. But Hlomane Chauke is ready to battle for access to thousands of private dams.

How many dams are privately owned in South Africa?

As reported by IOL, Chauke maintains that of the 4,000 dams in South Africa, only 350 are government owned. The acting chairperson of Parliament’s portfolio committee on water and sanitation believes this is “not normal”, and says it his up to his fellow lawmakers to resolve the issue:

“We want to know who is this one that has so much water and the remaining 3000 dams. Who is in control of those dams. We have a drought crisis here but some dams are privately owned. This is something that is political and we have to resolve it. It cannot be that when so many of our people, you see them with containers everyday.”

When is day zero?

The statement comes in a week where farmers from the Overberg region released 10 billion litres of water into Cape Town’s reticulation system, helping to push day zero back by almost a month to 11 May.

The water will be released into the Upper Steenbras dam over the course of a month, being pumped in from the Palmiet River. This has been called a “one-off voluntary donation”.

Should dams be nationalised?

The donation was certainly a kind gesture. But should private landowners have so much control over who gets water, and when? IOL report that Chauke does not think so. He is now pushing for legislative measures to ensure the nationalisation of all dams in South Africa, to steer certain regions away from the threat of drought.

We approached the Western Cape government and The City of Cape Town for a response, but we are yet to hear back from them.