Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina has pledged to review all bulk water user licences following an independent probe that found commercial farmers upstream of the N’wamanungu Dam in Limpopo blocked water flows to downstream communities.
The findings come from an Independent Ministerial Investigative Panel commissioned by the department in 2024. The report showed that upstream dams and over-abstraction by farmers have kept the N’wamanungu Dam, formerly known as Middle Letaba Dam, from filling for more than two decades.
Majodina spoke at a community meeting in Nden’eza village near Giyani. She said the department will inspect every licence and cut allocations where farmers exceed their limits. “We are going to visit each and every license and check it’s capacity,” she stated, adding that irrigation must not come at the expense of local livelihoods.
Residents welcomed the report but called for a clear timetable. The department has promised to review its water supply plans every three months to deliver uninterrupted access to communities in the area.
