* Umsebenzi Online Umsebenzi Online, Volume 11, No. 42, 15 November 2012* ** *_In this Issue_:*
* *The political economy of water* * /*Let us defend our democratically elected President of our republic and our movement against the DA sponsored motion of no confidence <http://www.sacp.org.za/main.php?ID=3787#one>*/ Umsebenzi hand *_Red Alert_:* ** *The political economy of water* ** ** *By B Schreiner, B van Koppen, J Schreiner* * * *1. Introduction*Economic growth in South Africa is a site of intense contestation between progressive forces and the forces of capital. Water, a critical input to economic development, is an equally contested terrain. South Africa's available water per person is amongst the lowest in the world. Average annual rainfall is around half of the world average, and is extremely variable across the country and between years, resulting in frequent droughts and floods. There is widespread pollution of water resources from, for example, acid mine drainage, industrial and agricultural effluent and poor waste water treatment works.
In 1913, Africans were not only stripped of their land, but also of the water resources that went with it. Inequality in access to water deepened when the colonial state set out its 'hydraulic mission'. Within one century the white capitalist water economy had harnessed all easily accessible water through dams, canals, pumps, pipes, and tunnels. An infrastructure asset base with a current replacement cost of around R150 billion became the life line of large-scale white farmers, mines, water-cooled electricity generation, industries and metropolitan areas. The water needs of black communities for domestic and productive purposes (enterprises, food gardening, livestock for food security and income etc) were largely ignored.
Water is, therefore, a scarce and inequitably distributed resource in South Africa, and the question of how the developmental state should manage water to drive equitable economic transformation is more urgent than ever.
*2. Inequitable access to water*The biggest challenges are in rural areas and informal settlements where the poorest of the poor are the last to be served. Two thirds of the poor live in the former homelands, while there are also a number of poor rural communities in former white rural areas.
Even now, in the rural areas, 1.2 % of the population - predominantly white commercial farmers - uses 95% of the water. While the government has made extraordinary strides since 1994 in providing safe drinking water to the previously unserved, the basic domestic water needs for 3.6 million urban and rural working class people are still unmet, let alone the water needs for productive purposes. Even in peri-urban areas water is used for productive purposes, whether food gardening, small-scale enterprises, car-washing, food preparation, and so on.
In the former homelands access has deteriorated with both water services and irrigation systems collapsing as a result of loss of financial, institutional and technical support since 1994. While there have been recent revitalization investments, some of these have pushed poor women out of their livelihoods, replacing them with men and commercial farmers.
Water for basic domestic purposes is subsidised through the equitable share which supports implementation of national policy that at least 6 kilolitres per household per month should be provided free of charge. Often, however, the poor do not receive their free basic water share, either because they have not been provided with services, or because the 6 kl per month is not sufficient for the number of people in one yard or household.
*3. Taking action*The risk is the ongoing monopolization of scarce water resources by the middle-class. The middle class, business and industry are able to protect and develop their access to water through the construction of privately funded infrastructure and preferential access to the bureaucracy. There is also still substantial public funding in this arena.
The problem is exacerbated by poor regulation of water use. The regulatory system needs deliberately pro-poor and effectively implemented. Innovative and less administratively burdensome measures should be introduced to regulate large impact water users in parallel with much stronger state support for small water users.
Because of our limited water resources, improving access to water for the have-nots implies that the 'haves' need to share the water that they are using now. The DWA water reallocation strategy states that 60% of water use should be in black hands by 2024, but little has been done to reach this target. The rural and urban poor and working class need state support to improve their access to and control of their largely 'informal water economy'. The state must ensure improved and appropriate infrastructure, as well as technical support to these communities to support the effective use of water for poverty eradication and improved livelihoods. This requires a strong partnership between the Departments of Water Affairs, Agriculture, Rural Development and local government.
It is also important that the poor are involved in the process of decision making on matters that affect them. Along with this, there is a need to bring indigenous or local knowledge in water management into the decision making process. The challenge is how to ensure that the range of structures enable this process, including not only state structures such as ward committees, but the structures of the left as they operate at the community level through to the national level.
Water and economic planning must be strongly integrated, whether at the national, provincial, catchment or local level. An important concept in this regard relates to multiple use services. Historically, provision of water for domestic and productive purposes has been done by different institutions - municipalities vs the Department of Water Affairs- resulting in separate planning and provisioning arrangements. A better approach is to plan jointly for the multiple water needs of a community, ensuring that their domestic and productive needs are all provided for.
*4. Conclusion*It is the role of the progressive developmental state to ensure that people have access to water to meet their developmental needs. Integrated rural development programmes, priority programmes to address the water needs in informal settlements, a co-ordinated land and water reform programme, targeted regulation controlling illegal water use and pollution, and strong support programmes for small scale water users, must be developed and implemented through inter-governmental co-operation. The must be a reallocation of water to the poor and to historically disadvantaged communities. Even a small amount of water reallocation makes a major difference to the health and well-being of poor communities, particularly in rural areas.
DWA is currently revising the National Water Act and the Water Services Act. In this it is critical that the legislation addresses the practical implementation of reallocation of water to the poor. A strong economic regulator is also needed to ensure differential water use charges are paid by water users, to meet the needs of the poor and ensure that the state does not subsidise the middle class. Strong intervention by the left is needed to make this happen.
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