Neoliberalised water in South Africa

This Working Paper explores the system of provision for water and sanitation in South Africa with particular reference to finance and financialisation. The country is extremely water stressed with low rainfall combined with water intensive energy and agricultural production. The supply of water is stratified according to function along the stages of the water “value chain”. Raw water is abstracted from surface or ground sources. In some cases this goes directly to end users or to bulk water boards which treat the water and transport it to end users and to Water Service Authorities, many of which are municipalities who then provide water to end users including households. Since the end of apartheid state investment has led to considerable progress in increasing access to water and sanitation to remedy the inequality that prevailed before 1994. However millions still lack access to basic services. Service delivery continues to be split along the racial (and/or parallel class) lines that dominated the apartheid era. There is a significant gap between policy rhetoric and outcomes in practice. Core policies such as cost recovery and decentralization are contradictory and contested in practice and the core objectives of equity and sustainability have been compromised as a result.