Modes of Failure of South African Local Government in the Water Services Sector (original) (raw)
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At the centre of the South African water law reform process initiated by the first democratic government in 1994 lay the challenge of managing water differently from the way it was managed under apartheid (Rowlston, 2011). This process culminated in the promulgation of the National Water Act of 1998 and the Water Services Act of 1997, which are regarded internationally as ambitious and forward‐thinking instances of legislation that reflect the broad aims of integrated water resource management (IWRM) (Schreiner, 2013). The local government sector was also redesigned in the first decade of democracy, with extensive powers and autonomy granted to the sector under a policy of developmental local government (DLG) (Republic of South Africa, 1998). Both DLG and IWRM aspire towards decentralized decisionmaking, participatory governance and management, and the integration of multiple issues that have social, environmental and technical dimensions. However, both IWRM and DLG have been criticized for implementation failures in post‐apartheid South Africa (Mehta et al., 2014; Siddle and Koelble, 2012), which have led to proposals from national government that water policy needs to be redesigned (Department of Water Affairs, 2013) and that local government powers and functions should be reassessed (Department of Water and Sanitation, 2014). This chapter focuses on the governance and management of water services (the primary intersection between the legislative frameworks for local government and those for water management and water service delivery) to motivate the use of a modelling approach to explore the ambiguous ‘muddled middle’ between policy design, implementation and adaptation. The modelling approach involves an ethnographically embedded form of participatory system dynamics modelling. This chapter applies the modelling approach to a case study, drawing on the authors’ extended participation in an action research process involving water services in the Sundays River Valley Municipality (SRVM) in South Africa (SA).
Local service delivery problems and trends in South Africa's water governance (1994-2010)
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A notable feature of South Africa's political landscape between 1994 and 2010 was the high rate of municipal service delivery protests. It is argued in this article that discontent with inferior water and sanitation services played a significant role in the protests. In an effort to comprehend the complex circumstances better, attention is focused on the evolution of water governance in South Africa after 1994. Water was central to the socio-economic transformation of South Africa to a multiracial democracy. Water was also a prominent theme of public discourse in the country's politics. The government started operating as the custodian of the country's water supplies on behalf of the people. Moreover, the symbolic value of water has also been turned into a basic human right, according to the country's Constitution. It is the right of all the country's people to have access to clean drinking water and proper sanitation. Despite the exceptionally progressive legislation the country, by 2004 , faced considerable water governance problems – primarily at the municipal level. Some of the underlying issues are discussed. Attention is also given to the manner in which plans were implemented to try and stem the tide of local civil discontent.
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Limited understanding of the complex interactions of factors that influence the sustainability of access to improved water services poses a threat to rural livelihoods. The study assessed the complex interactions of the factors using a network approach. The assessment was to understand the complex interaction of the factors resulting from their cause-effect relationship that influence the sustainability of access to improved water services in a rural municipality of South Africa. The results highlighted that limited budget, limited or no water supply and improper operation and maintenance were critical factors resulting from the cause-effect relationship of other factors that influenced the sustainability of access to improved water services in the study area. We conclude that critical factors with a cause-effect relationship can influence the sustainability of access to improved water services. As a result, this deprives rural communities of the benefits derived from accessing impr...
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South Africa is a developing country undergoing social and ecological transformation. Water service delivery (i) exemplifies the challenge of improvement and transformation towards a more socially and ecologically just situation, and (ii) can usefully be viewed as a complex social-ecological system (C-SES) in the search for 'just transitions'. Household water security problems associated with water service delivery in South Africa are recognisably intractable, multi-scaled, comprising many actors and elements and having no single solution. There is a global and South African trend towards systemic approaches to addressing such complex water challenges. However, the steps required to take a systemic approach are seldom explicit. This paper presents the analytical process of defining boundaries, identifying elements and exploring relationships between elements as the foundational step in a study of the Makana Local Municipality water service delivery C-SES in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The resulting narrative and heuristics provide a clear systemic basis from which to research the emergence, practice and social learning process of a civil society organisation (Water for Dignity) seeking to confront water service delivery issues in the Makana Local Municipality.
At the centre of the water law reform process initiated by the first democratic government of the Republic of South Africa (RSA) lay the challenge of transforming away from apartheid water injustices. Reform culminated in the promulgation of new legislation, regarded internationally as ambitious and forward-thinking legislation reflective of the broad aims of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). However, implementation of this legislation has been challenging. This paper analyses institutional dysfunction in water management in the Sundays River Valley Municipality (SRVM) (Eastern Cape province, RSA). A transdisciplinary approach is taken in addressing the failure of national law and policy to enable the delivery of effective water services in post-apartheid RSA. A case study is used to explore interventions to promote effective water supply, locating these interventions and policies within the legislative structures and frameworks governing the water sector. We suggest that fine-grained institutional analysis together with learning from persistent iterative, adaptive practice, with principled goals intact, offers a pragmatic and achievable alternative to grand-scale policy change. Additional Information: Question Response The word limit for Water Policy is 9,000 words. Please state the word length of your manuscript, including Abstract, Keywords and References, and space occupied by tables and figures. A full page of the printed journal is c. 660 words. A half-page figure or table is therefore c. 330 words. Please note that manuscripts that exceed the stated word limit may be rejected without review.
Chapter 6 Using System Dynamics Modelling in South African Water Management and Planning
The effective governance and management of water has many environmental, so-cio-political, economic and technical dimensions, which frequently interweave in a 'wicked web' that presents significant challenges to planners, policy makers and networks of citizens. This chapter evaluates the use of system dynamics modelling (SDM) as a tool for policy analysis and planning, with emphasis on the management and governance of water in an African context. The strengths and limitations of SDM are related to the characteristic challenges of integrated water management and participatory water governance. A conceptual framework is posited for distinguishing between diverse motivations for undertaking modelling for developmental planning. The framework is used for reflecting on a selection of South African cases between 1980 and 2016. Three of these case studies are then described and discussed, emphasising how SDM was variously used to address some of the key challenges facing planning at different scales of water management. The outcomes of SDM-based interventions are discussed, including examples of models being used to inform the design of more equitable operational policies for water releases; the use of SDM to create shared focal points amongst stakeholder groups; modelling as an integrative activity that can synthesise knowledge drawn from different specialists and fields; and the appropriateness of SDM in the data-scarce and politically charged contexts of African water and coastal management.
This paper explores the challenges faced by small municipalities in providing water services in a developing-world context of increasing urban demand. The paper uses a case study of the Sundays River Valley Municipality (SRVM) in South Africa. The municipality faces multiple dilemmas in reconciling its available water supply with growing demand for potable water in the primary urban settlement in the area, in a struggle that is typical of the broad category of South African municipalities to which the SRVM belongs. These dilemmas are explored using a system dynamics model, referred to as the 'Kirkwood water demand system dynamics model' (K-DEM). This paper specifically introduces the K-DEM structure, which is aimed at investigating the impacts of households progressively receiving full water and sanitation services; the use of rainwater harvesting as an alternative form of water supply; and the possible effect of a household-level water conservation / water demand management programme. Baseline results are discussed, and areas for future research identified.
CALS, NCHR and COHRE Research Report, 2008
This report presents the findings of a survey of water services across 15 South African municipalities, conducted by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) and the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (NCHR). The research findings reflect systemic obstacles to the provision of universal access to water services across the country, thus compromising everyone’s water and sanitation-related rights. The report outlines some key recommendations to overhaul water services delivery in South Africa, around cross-cutting ‘fault lines’ which include: eliminating backlogs and improving levels of service; Free Basic Services (FBS); indigent policy as the FBS targeting mechanism; tariff structures; credit control enforcement – water disconnections and restriction devices; financial and technical assistance; water quality; water demand management; and public participation.