Steenhuisen SLAMS Ramaphosa, ANC Over Proposed ‘Race Quotas’ for Water Use

The African National Congress under the leadership of Cyril Ramaphosa has moved to implement race quotas for access to water licenses in South Africa, a move that has been criticized by many.

The strongest condemnation has come from Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen, who said the policy was reminiscent of the type of racial discrimination the country sought to dispose of in 1994.

“It is now beyond all doubt that the ANC, led by Cyril Ramaphosa, is reintroducing racial discrimination across all sectors of society on a scale not seen since 1994,” Steenhuisen wrote in a statement. “They are doing so in order to divide and rule. The ANC knows it is on track to lose its majority in 2024 and it hopes to use race quotas to incite racial division for narrow electoral gain.”

He went on to lament that, “under these water race quotas, livestock will be left to die from thirst because a farmer has the ‘wrong’ skin colour,” predicting that, “hundreds of thousands of workers, from all backgrounds, will lose their jobs as the parched agriculture and mining industries wither and die.”

“Race quotas will be the death knell for an economy already on its knees,” Steenhuisen warned. “I therefore repeat my call for a society-wide defiance campaign against ANC race quotas.”

He vowed that the DA would “continue to spearhead opposition to these destructive regulations,” noting that legal options were being explored to declare the policy unconstitutional.

According to the new regulations, drafted by Water Minister Senzo Mchunu and published in the latest issue of the South African Government Gazette, in order to receive a water license for more than 250,000 cubic meters, applicants would have to prove that they had allocated enough “shares” to black people.

Applications from state-owned companies, as well as those in mining and related industries would be exempt from having to follow the regulations, as would “100% black owned” businesses.

Preference for licenses would thus be given to applications from black people, followed by women, a move the ANC justified by suggesting it fit with their larger goal of “achieving equity and redressing past racial and gender imbalances.”