31 Jul 2019

Assistant Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services Mr Itumeleng Moipisi says farmers are not allowed to draw water from standpipes to water their livestock .

Mr Moipisi told Parliament that the Water Act, Section 26 prohibited the use of water supplied by Water Authority for purposes other than that which was supplied for.

In addition, Mr Moipisi said any person who used any water supplied by water authority for any purpose other than those for which the water was supplied or for purpose in contravention of any prohibition specified under Section 17 shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding  P250 and in default of payment of such fine to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 12 months for first offenders.

In the case of second or subsequent offence, the offender would be liable to a fine not exceeding P1000 and in default of payment of such fine to a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years.

Nevertheless, Mr Moipisi said  the provisions of subsection (1) any penalty imposed under the said subsection (1) should not prejudice the right of the water authority to recover by civil suit the charge for the water improperly used.

He further stated that a total of 58 people had been charged so far countrywide for violating the law.

He said the stated numbers were minimal compared to prevalence of the offence countrywide due to factors including lack of capacity to police all standpipes.

The assistant minister said, the prevalent inadequacy of water in some areas and high numbers of non-reticulated areas created an excuse for people to collect under the pretext of taking the water for consumption thus making monitoring difficult.

He was responding to the MP for Nkange Mr Edwin Batshu who wanted to know whether farmers were allowed to draw water from standpipes into tanks to water their livestock at the fields or cattle posts and if not what penalty was sanctioned by law for those who do so.

He had also asked how many people had been charged so far countrywide for violating the law. Ends