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2012 [4] but also provide insight into the required regulatory processes during the lifespan of a dam. A summary is provided of the lessons learnt in the implementation of the legislation including the positive influence of effective dam safety legislation and the fact that it takes time and significant resources to implement a dam safety regulatory system. It is also important to note that these lessons learnt were used to help some other African countries starting with the implementation of Dam Safety regulatory systems in their countries [5][6]. 2. LEGISLATION 2.1. HISTORY Legislation on the safety of dams was formally introduced in 1984 in South Africa (after earlier attempts dating back to the early 1970s was not successful). It is interesting to note that initially the political decision makers in South Africa considered dams to be inherently safe. This was obviously not correct considering the failure statistics of dams before the 1970s. A visit to the US, UK and several European countries by a team of officials from the Department of Water Affairs in the 1980s lead to the first attempts to introduce dam safety principles in South Africa based on the experiences gained during their visit. Apart from defining the structures subjected to control, authority has been given to the Minister of Water Affairs (and Forestry) to promulgate dam safety regulations in which conditions and requirements for the design, operation, maintenance, inspection and even decommissioning of dams are prescribed. This was done for the first time in 1986. It is important to note that these regulations initially did not specifically take into account any environmental aspects with regards to dam safety. Although the Constitution of South Africa of 1996 [7] drawn up after the advent of democracy in 1994, is primarily human centered, it also highlights the protection of the environment. Subsequently a National Water Act was promulgated in 1998 that includes a section on dam safety [8] that also included environmental aspects pertaining to dam safety (impacts). As a result, revised dam safety regulations were promulgated in 2012 [4] which for the first time included the potential impact of a dam on the resource quality downstream of the dam. 2.2. DAM SAFETY LEGISLATION The National Water Act [8] as well as the Dam Safety Regulations of 2012 [4] aim at “improving the safety of the new and existing dams with a safety risk so as to reduce the potential harm to the public, damage to property or to resource 1339