The Water Resources Management Act 24 of 2004 will change the water regime in Namibia dramatically. Section 4 of the Water Resources Management Act provides for this change by excluding private ownership of water from the new water law dispensation. This study focused on section 4 of the Water Resources Management Act and the implication that this section will have on property rights in the Namibia. The dissertation firstly outlines the historical development of ownership of water in Namibia. It is indicated that private ownership of water was an established principle under Roman-Dutch law. A further examination of Roman-Dutch law reveals that surface water could be divided into private and public water. Public water belonged to the whole nation, while ownership of private rivers was vested in the land owner. Under South West Africa’s water legislation, the Irrigation and Water Conservation Act 8 of 1912 and the Water Act 54 of 1956 maintained the distinction between public and private water. However, the Water Act of 1956 expanded the definitions of both public and private water, and acknowledged that the land owner where the water found its source or flowed over, could exercise the exclusive use rights of such water. The Water Resources Management Act has been approved and published in the Government Gazette. However, it has not yet come into force as a date for commencement of the Act, as prescribed by section 138(1)(b), has not yet been determined by the Minister. Once the Act is in force, the Water Act will be repealed as a whole. Section 4 of the Water Resources Management Act will abolish the private ownership of water in Namibia. This is clearly in violation of article 16 of the Namibian Constitution of 1990, which provides for private ownership of water when read with article 100. Therefore, the research concludes that the Water Resources Management Act will dramatically affect property rights in Namibia. Under the Water Resources Management Act there will be no private ownership of water, and the affected person will have no recourse under the Act to claim compensation. / LLM (Environmental Law and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The Water Resources Management Act 24 of 2004 will change the water regime in Namibia dramatically. Section 4 of the Water Resources Management Act provides for this change by excluding private ownership of water from the new water law dispensation. This study focused on section 4 of the Water Resources Management Act and the implication that this section will have on property rights in the Namibia. The dissertation firstly outlines the historical development of ownership of water in Namibia. It is indicated that private ownership of water was an established principle under Roman-Dutch law. A further examination of Roman-Dutch law reveals that surface water could be divided into private and public water. Public water belonged to the whole nation, while ownership of private rivers was vested in the land owner. Under South West Africa’s water legislation, the Irrigation and Water Conservation Act 8 of 1912 and the Water Act 54 of 1956 maintained the distinction between public and private water. However, the Water Act of 1956 expanded the definitions of both public and private water, and acknowledged that the land owner where the water found its source or flowed over, could exercise the exclusive use rights of such water. The Water Resources Management Act has been approved and published in the Government Gazette. However, it has not yet come into force as a date for commencement of the Act, as prescribed by section 138(1)(b), has not yet been determined by the Minister. Once the Act is in force, the Water Act will be repealed as a whole. Section 4 of the Water Resources Management Act will abolish the private ownership of water in Namibia. This is clearly in violation of article 16 of the Namibian Constitution of 1990, which provides for private ownership of water when read with article 100. Therefore, the research concludes that the Water Resources Management Act will dramatically affect property rights in Namibia. Under the Water Resources Management Act there will be no private ownership of water, and the affected person will have no recourse under the Act to claim compensation. / LLM (Environmental Law and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the forms of ownership of the water supply infrastructure in terms of its operation, the number of operators and the impact assessment on the drinking water price for end customers. All this with a view to assessing whether it is appropriate to ensure the operation with private entities or to have municipalities operate the water management infrastructure separately. The analysis unambiguously confirms that the current number of owners and operators exceeding 9 thousand companies is unnecessarily harmful to the effective management of this area. Quantitative research shows that only 52 companies provide a full 97% of the volume of invoiced water. At the same time, economic analysis proves that the efficiency of the economy is not determined by ownership but by effective management. The result of this work is the confirmation that the water price is primarily influenced by the place of drinking water supply, long-term sustainable development of the water supply infrastructure area and effective management of an adequate number of companies.