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dam-l Komati River Basin project/LS
KASRILS TRAVELS TO SWAZILAND TO SIGN REGIONAL WATER AGREEMENT <br>
PIGGS PEAKwaziland July 30 1999 Sapa
Water Affairs Minister Ronnie Kasrils travelled to Swaziland on
Friday to meet his Swazi and Mozambican counterparts and to sign
agreements on the use of the shared water resources of the three
countries.
Under the spotlight was the Komati River which rises near Badplaas in
Mpumalanga and then wends its way through the three countries in an area
known as the Komati river basin, irrigating fields and providing water
for households along the way until it finally runs into the Indian Ocean
in Mozambique, also taking with it traces of the Sabie and Crocodile
rivers.
Kasrils, Swazi Minister for Water Affairs Prince Guduza Dlamini and
Mozambican Minister of Public Works and Housing Robert Costley-White
signed an agreement to study water resource developments in the region to
coordinate future plans for the region's water.
Called the Inkomati Development Initiative, the study, funded by the
Danish government, would gather information on all current and future
water projects in the area to lay the framework for future projects.
Bilateral commissions have been established between the three governments
and on Friday Swaziland and Mozambique also formalised a joint water
commission between the two.
Existing projects are the completed R600 million Driekoppies Dam which
draws on the Lomati River and the R800 million Maguga Dam, which is under
construction.
Driekoppies is built on the Lomati River which flows into Mozambique.
Swaziland and South Africa already cooperate on the two dams. "Today
we brought Mozambique in," Kasrils said.
"The basin is between the three countries so we need water
management and to develop mutual cooperation," he said.
"Rivers know no boundaries and water is a strategic resource. There
have been wars fought over it and as we go into the next century there
have been predictions that war could break out over a glass of clean
water.
"It was very important to me to meet my counterparts in Swaziland
and Mozambique and forge working relations with them."
Swaziland's Prince Guduza Dlamini said:"Our forefathers found
themselves sharing the same rivers for their livelihood. Even the
colonial masters realised this when they signed the 1964 agreement
between Swaziland, South Africa and Portugal over rivers of common
interest.
"When Swaziland and Mozambique became independent they shared the
same agreement."
Costley-White said: "The sugar basin project (at Driekoppies dam)
wil help people recovering from war."
He said regulating the river flow would also help Mozambique's famous
fish industry.
"It will ease the tension that often results in the management of
our resources."
Mozambique was downstream of nine out of 15 rivers in the region, he
added.
The entourage were taken to the nearby Maguga dam to view the beginnings
of the dam's construction and its new infrastructure. Kasrils met some of
the people who were being resettled to make way for the dam.
A South African consultancy is assisting with the complexities of the
resettlement which ranges from the construction of new houses to having
their ancestors' graves moved.
The fields where their cattle once roamed will become irrigated land
producing bananas, sugar cane and citrus fruit with parallel tourism
possibilities, Kasrils said.
The main source of income from the dam is expected to be revenue from the
supply of water to farmers.
It was Kasrils' first major trip since taking the portfolio from Kader
Asmal.
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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