According to this paper, South Africa has been implementing a policy of irrigation management transfer on its small-holder irrigation schemes. In Limpopo Province in the north of South Africa, irrigation management transfer is linked to an infrastructural revitalisation programme. Following refurbishment of the irrigation infrastructure, plot holder communities are expected to take responsibility for the management and maintenance of their schemes. The objective of this paper was to document and assess practices and arrangements that applied to the maintenance of irrigation infrastructure on canal irrigation schemes established shortly after World War II, with a view of identifying what plot holder communities can and cannot realistically be expected to achieve on their own.