Wat as die Bergrivier regte gehad het? Dis waarom ‘n radikale regsidee dalk presies is wat Suid-Afrika nodig het.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Ruda Murray, ‘n regsgeleerde en nadoktorale navorsingsgenoot aan die fakulteit regsgeleerdheid by Universiteit Stellenbosch en navorser by die Development and Rule of Law Programme (DROP), wys daarop dat Suid-Afrika daagliks sowat sewe miljard liter onbehandelde of swakbehandelde riool in sy riviere en damme vrystel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haar doktorale proefskrif, Conferring rights to South Africa’s rivers: Improved protection and enforcement? A comparative law study, ondersoek hoe regte aan riviere toegeken kan word om hul beskerming te verbeter. “Ek het begin vra: Wat as riviere regte gehad het, nie metafories nie, nie simbolies nie, maar regtens?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Volgens Murray is hierdie nie ‘n veraf statistiek nie, die water vloei verby plase, trek deur dorpe en beland in die lewe van miljoene mense. In 2022 is beraam dat 64% van Suid-Afrika se rivier-ekostelsels bedreig is, terwyl slegs 13% goed beskerm word. Murray beklemtoon: “Die kernprobleem is nie net swak wette nie, maar swak handhawing en gefragmenteerde bestuur. Die regering tree meestal reaktief op eerder as om probleme te voorkom.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘n Rivier onder druk<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Die Bergrivier in die Wes-Kaap kronkel deur van die provinsie se mees produktiewe landbougrond, hou dorpe soos die Paarl en Wellington aan die gang en mond by Velddrif in die see uit. Dit is diep verweef met die streek se ekonomie en identiteit.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Onder die oppervlak speel egter ‘n stiller storie af. Besoedeling van riool, landbou-afloop en vervalle infrastruktuur laat die watergehalte agteruitgaan. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Klimaatsverandering maak droogtes erger en oorstromings hewiger. “Hoewel goeie omgewingswette op papier bestaan, skiet handhawing dikwels te kort. Die gaping tussen wette en uitkomste is die hart van die probleem,” s\u00ea Murray\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n ‘n Ander benadering<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Reg oor die w\u00eareld probeer ‘n groeiende regsbeweging iets anders. Meer as 500 inisiatiewe fokus op die regte van die natuur. Lande soos Ecuador, Nieu-Seeland, Colombia en Bangladesj erken riviere as regspersone \u2013 met regte en voogde wat namens hulle in die hof en by regeringsvergaderings kan optree.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Murray beklemtoon die rol van gemeenskappe: “Gewone mense lei dikwels hierdie gevegte. Wanneer die regering nie ‘n rivier beskerm nie, beywer gemeenskappe hulle vir ‘n nuwe regshulpmiddel \u2013 een wat die rivier sy eie stem gee.” In plaas daarvan om op groot nasionale hervormings te wag, wys haar navorsing op ‘n praktiese beginpunt, begin met een rivier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Die Bergrivier het sin. Dit is ekonomies noodsaaklik, staar duidelike, gedokumenteerde bedreigings in die gesig en bestuursstrukture bestaan reeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Die Wes-Kaap het die regsbevoegdheid om op te tree, en die Bergrivier is ‘n logiese beginpunt vir hierdie soort beskerming,” s\u00ea Murray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Om die Bergrivier regte te gee, gaan nie Suid-Afrika se waterkrisis oornag oplos nie, maar dit kan ‘n dieper verandering bring, hoe riviere in die reg gesien word en hoe ernstig hul beskerming opgeneem word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Solank riviere as objekte behandel word, sal hul agteruitgang voortduur. Maar wat as ons hulle as iets meer begin sien soos iets wat beskerming werd is, nie net vir ons nie, maar vir die geslagte wat volg?” sluit Murray af.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\u2009Hierdie is die eerste in ‘n kort reeks wat ondersoek of rivierregte in Suid-Afrika kan werk \u2013 en wat dit vir die Bergrivier kan beteken. Murray nooi lesers om hul mening te deel, ondersteun hulle die idee om die Bergrivier regte te gee, of is dit ‘n stap te ver?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Ek het begin vra: Wat as riviere regte gehad het, nie metafories nie, nie simbolies nie, maar regtens?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":298920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":"68","_yoast_wpseo_content_score":"30","_yoast_wpseo_inclusive_language_score":"90","_yoast_wpseo_is_cornerstone":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image-id":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image-id":"","newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_crsspst_to_novanewscoza":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozabloemnewsexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozacityvision":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozadistrictmailhelderberg":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaeikestadnuus":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozahermanustimes":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakomani-karoo":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakougaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozamthathaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozanoordkaapbulletin":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapaarlpost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeoplespost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaswartlandgazette":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozatygerburger":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaudexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozavistanews":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozavrystaatkroon":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweskusnuus":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaworcesterstandard":false,"_eb_attr":"","_EventAllDay":"","_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":"","_EventShowMapLink":"","_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":"","_EventVenueID":"","_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":"","_VenueShowMapLink":"","_application":"","_batch_id":"","_company_name":"","_company_tagline":"","_company_twitter":"","_company_video":"","_company_website":"","_custom_id":"","_EventDuration":"","_EventOrigin":"","_EventTimezoneAbbr":"","_featured":"","_filled":"","_job_expires":"","_job_location":"","_media_credit":"","_media_credit_url":"","_menu_item_menu_item_parent":"","_menu_item_object":"","_menu_item_object_id":"","_menu_item_target":"","_menu_item_type":"","_menu_item_url":"","_menu_item_xfn":"","_navis_media_can_distribute":"","_navis_media_credit_org":"","_OrganizerOrigin":"","_provider":"","_pum_built_in":"","_pum_default_theme":"","_pum_form_conversion_count":"","_remote_id":"","_remote_name":"","_remote_position":"","_report_frequency":"","_report_reference_dates":"","_send_attempts":"","_site_id":"","_sitemap_exclude":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_sitemap_priority":"","_source_url":"","_subscription_period":"","_subscription_period_interval":"","_subscription_price":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":"","_template_type":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_tribe_aggregator_allow_multiple_organizers":"","_tribe_aggregator_content_type":"","_tribe_aggregator_file":"","_tribe_aggregator_finalized":"","_tribe_aggregator_hash":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_id":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_interactive":"","_tribe_aggregator_origin":"","_tribe_aggregator_post_status":"","_tribe_aggregator_preview":"","_tribe_aggregator_source_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_type":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_hide_attendees_list":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":"","_tribe_ticket_version":"","_type":"","_VenueOrigin":"","_wp_attachment_context":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","_wp_font_face_file":"","_wp_old_date":"","_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":"3","_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":"","_yoast_wpseo_focuskw_text_input":"","_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_block-catalog":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"9430","_yoast_wpseo_primary_job_listing_type":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_nova_retailer":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_publication":"9739","_yoast_wpseo_primary_tribe_events_cat":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-duration":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-rating":"","_menu_item_classes":[],"_tribe_modified_fields":[],"_wp_attachment_backup_sizes":[],"_wp_suggested_privacy_policy_content":[],"_yoast_post_redirect_info":[],"_yoast_wpseo_video_meta":[],"activation_date":"","archive_insertion_is_repeating":"","archive_insertion_posts_count":"","article_feature_media":"1","article_feature_type":"normal","article_main_image_caption":"Die Bergrivier. Foto: Dr. Ruda Murray","article_media_icon":"1","article_template":"news","author_byline":"","background_color":"","block_editor":"1","byline":"","cmplz_hide_cookiebanner":"","competition_end_date":"","contact_advertise_email":"","contact_advertise_phone":"","contact_editorial_email":"","contact_general_email":"","contact_general_phone":"","contact_office_hours":"","contact_physical_address":"","enabled":"","featured_image_custom_caption":"","featured_video_url":"","fields":"","font_body":"","font_header":"","frequency":"","headline":"Het B'rivier regte?","hide_border":"","icon":"","is_wp_suggestion":"","issuu_download_url":"","issuu_embed_url":"","language_version_url":"","large_border":"","name":"","nm_contact_name":"","nm_contact_number":"","nm_date_lost":"","no_overlay_background":"","node-url":"","obituary_born_date":"","obituary_died_date":"","obituary_memoriam_text":"","origin":"","overlay_color":"","overlay_opacity":"","overlay_size":"","placement":"","plural_label":"","post_author":"","post_id":"","post_language":"en","secret-key":"","sponsored_utm_campaign":"","sponsored_utm_content":"","sponsored_utm_medium":"","sponsored_utm_source":"","sponsored_utm_term":"","start_date":"","utm_suppression":"","video_embed_url":"","wp_pattern_sync_status":"","data_version":[],"enclosure":[],"pongrass_image":["AB-Bergrivier se regte_P1"],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7902,1,9430],"tags":[8402,7903,91,8161],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"publication":[9739],"class_list":["post-298919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news","category-nuus","tag-bergrivier","tag-community-highlights","tag-top","tag-weslander","publication-weslander-western-province-e-editions"],"yoast_head":"\n