Politics and activism in the water and sanitation wars in South Africa

Abstract

This paper focuses on the ways in which activism is undermined in the water and sanitation wars in South Africa. The paper extends previous work that has focused on the politics of water and sanitation in South Africa and is based on an analysis of talk between activists and stakeholders in a television debate. It attempts to make two arguments. First, activists who disrupt powerful discourses of active citizenship struggle to highlight water and sanitation injustices without their actions being individualised and party politicised. Second, in an attempt to claim a space for new social movements, activists paradoxically draw on common sense accounts of race, class, geography, dignity and democracy that may limit activism. The implications for water and sanitation activism and future research are discussed.

Water ‘Apartheid’ and the Significance of Human Rights Principles of Affirmative Action in South Africa

“…This development confirms earlier findings that large numbers of South African citizens, mostly black and living in the poorest sections of townships or in so-called 'informal settlements', do not have continuous access to safe water [37]. To further show the continuing nature of the challenge, issues around access to sufficient water by disadvantaged populations still form an important subject of controversial discussion in the political terrain in post-apartheid South Africa [3,4]. To illustrate, recently the 2020 official release of the Department of Water and Sanitation dismisses the allegation that intervention works around the sewer spillages into the Vaal River forms part of a broader strategy to influence the outcome of their local government elections [38].…”

“…Although since 1994 when apartheid officially ended, there has been a rework of the South African water law and policy [1], agitations for equality in water access are still rampant and still highly debated in political arena in post-apartheid South Africa [2]. Literature has engaged the political dimension to the access of disadvantaged communities to water and measures meant to allow their access to water in South Africa [3,4]. There is scholarship on the vision and weaknesses of post 1994 water policies and measures including the implementation of the free basic water policy [5] and prepaid water meters [1].…”