Water Resources Management in South Africa: A Feminist Political Ecology Perspective

Abstract

Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) has been the main paradigm in managing water resources in South Africa. Its approach calls for the decentralisation of water resources management to ensure inclusive participation in decision-making. The Paper applies a systematic search of the literature and document analysis to dissect how decentralisation of water resources management gestates three social dimensions of participation, power and equity, which are often overlooked by the approach of IWRM. The Feminist Political Ecology was then used as a framework to analyse all these three social dimensions of participation, power and equity. Power dynamics in the decentralised institutions of participation often hinder the participation of previously marginalised groups. The Paper further illustrates that power manifests itself in many forms in the decentralised institutions of participation. White commercial farmers in South Africa often have too much power and dictate all decisions made in those decentralised institutions of participation. Lastly, the Paper also shows that equity is still a pipedream in South African water resources management institutions and processes because water is intrinsically linked to the land, which was dispossessed from the black, indigenous people of South Africa. Therefore, equity in water can never be achieved without addressing the land issue.