Sakeliga & TLU SA Challenge Department of Water & Sanitation’s Unlawful Collection of Prescribed Water Debts

• Sakeliga and TLU SA have filed a High Court application to stop the Department of Water and Sanitation from unlawfully collecting ‘expired’ water-use debts.
• In October 2021, the Department admitted that water use charges prescribe (lapse) after 3 years under the Prescription Act. Now they've changed their stance, apparently to unlawfully increase revenue collection.
• Unless the Court intervenes, agricultural water users will continue to face demands for payment of prescribed debts.

Sakeliga, TLU SA and various farmers in Limpopo have filed an application in the Gauteng Division of the High Court against the Minister of Water and Sanitation, the Director-General of Water and Sanitation, and the Department of Water and Sanitation.

The organisations seek to put an end to the Department’s unlawful collection practices targeting prescribed debts, and seek declaratory relief that water use charges under the National Water Act are subject to a three-year prescription period.

For years, the Department of Water and Sanitation has been attempting to collect decades-old water use charges, some dating back to before the National Water Act came into effect in 1998.

Commercial farmers have been subjected to harassment and intimidation by debt collectors, demanding payment for amounts that have long since been prescribed, threats of legal action, and demands for payment without proper itemised billing statements showing how the amounts are calculated.

Significantly, the Department acknowledged in October 2021 that water use charges would expire after three years, in accordance with the Prescription Act.

The Department has since changed its stance, apparently in an attempt to increase its revenue collection unlawfully.

Sakeliga and TLU SA argue in our application that water use charges are not taxes, and are therefore ordinary debt subject to three-year prescription under the Prescription Act.

This case is of utmost importance to commercial farmers, who seek legal certainty on the prescription of water use debt.

The constant threat of collection action for potentially prescribed debts disrupts business planning and makes financial budgeting onerous for commercial farmers, threatens food security by potentially forcing reductions in agricultural production, and risks job losses in the agricultural sector if operations become financially unviable.

Sakeliga and TLU SA seek a declaratory order that water use charges for commercial and agricultural purposes are subject to a three-year prescription and an order compelling the Department to provide complete itemised statements to the affected farmers.

Unless the Court intervenes, agricultural water users will continue to face demands for payment of prescribed debts, with the associated costs and business disruption this entails. This application is a critical test case for the proper application of prescription law to statutory charges and the limits of state revenue collection powers.