Water contestations in the Little Karoo: Liaisons between the Calitzdorp irrigation board and the Calitzdorp (Kannaland) Municipality, 1912- 2013
Abstract
Although a good agricultural-yielding region when adequate rainfall is available the
Little Karoo is plagued by regular, recurring and sometimes devastating droughts. In a
rural town like Calitzdorp, where the same water resources are being shared by
agricultural and domestic users, acute shortages over time have contributed to a history of
water disputes and contestations between the Calitzdorp Irrigation Board (CIB) and the
local municipality. The study focuses on the period between 1912, when the Calitzdorp
Irrigation Board was established, and the beginning of the 21st century. Drought
conditions and water shortages, also due to further municipal needs, were main
determinants in relations between the CIB and the municipality between the 1950s and
the early 1990s. Although this relationship had been abrasive at times up to 1994, issues
regarding municipal water allocation and usage and payment of water tariffs had usually
been settled in a practical way and to the mutual satisfaction of all stakeholders. The
interests of the all-white CIB and town council were intertwined in a community whose
existence depended on an agricultural economy supported predominantly by irrigation.
However, when new district municipalities were created in 1998 the Calitzdorp
Municipality was dissolved after 88 years and all executive and administrative municipal
powers shifted to the neighbouring town of Ladismith. As a result of political instability,
mismanagement and inefficient administration occurred. The new Kannaland
Municipality not only demanded more water from the CIB, but also started paying its
water bills in an erratic manner to the board. This situation led to the souring of relations
between the two entities.