Defining hydropolitics: the politics of water in South Africa

dc.contributor.authorJankielsohn, Roy
dc.date.accessioned2017-10-09T08:52:13Z
dc.date.available2017-10-09T08:52:13Z
dc.date.issued2012
dc.description.abstractAs the ability of governments to supply adequate amounts of safe water to communities diminishes, so does the potential for political conflict and instability increase. The political management of our planet’s scarce resources, especially water, will largely depend on the capacity and human capital available at local government level. If this is not available, then the resulting water shortages required to sustain communities will become a growing source of political unrest and conflict. It is within this context that hydropolitics needs to be redefined. In South Africa, the inability of local governments to react to the water needs of communities has already become a major cause of service delivery protests. Nowhere in South Africa were the consequences of this more prevalent than with the death of Andries Tatane during service delivery protests in the Setsoto municipality (Ficksburg) in the Free State Province. Water was at the centre of these protests. The solution to this problem requires a holistic approach to water management that takes various other aspects relating to water, or that require water, into account. The solutions require political will and a change in life styles and habits of individuals and communities. It is said that all politics is local, and one does not get more local than our daily reliance on water. Water is already a political issue and needs to be redefined as such in order to put pressure on politicians to recognize the need for political solutions and take responsibility for this.en_ZA
dc.description.versionPublisher's versionen_ZA
dc.identifier.citationJankielsohn, R. (2012). Defining hydropolitics: the politics of water in South Africa. Journal for Contemporary History, 37(1), 123-141.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn0258-2442 (print)
dc.identifier.issn2415-0509 (online)
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11660/7215
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherFaculty of Humanities, University of the Free Stateen_ZA
dc.rights.holderFaculty of Humanities, University of the Free Stateen_ZA
dc.subjectWateren_ZA
dc.subjectHydropoliticsen_ZA
dc.subjectService delivery protestsen_ZA
dc.subjectInstitutional capacityen_ZA
dc.subjectLocal governmenten_ZA
dc.subjectWater rightsen_ZA
dc.subjectWater pollutionen_ZA
dc.subjectAndries Tataneen_ZA
dc.titleDefining hydropolitics: the politics of water in South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA
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