The South African Water Caucus is a network of NGOs and CBOs working on water justice in South Africa. They are active citizen monitors of water policy and practice.

1. Introducing the South African Water
Caucus
Eastern Cape Water Caucus Seminar
Grahamstown, 22 November 2017
Taryn Pereira

2. • A network of NGOs, CBOs and individual activists in the South African Water
Sector
• It has been active since 2001
• Members of the SAWC are bound by a set of values that they identify with
The South African Water Caucus

3. The SAWC is governed by a
set of guiding principles, which
were first developed at the
SAWC Kalk Bay 2002 Meeting,
and subsequently amended as
necessary at bi-annual general
meetings.
The South African Water Caucus - principles

4. Access to water and sanitation
are human rights. All people
should have secure access to
sufficient potable water to
meet their basic human needs
including water for productive
use to sustain livelihoods.
The South African Water Caucus - Principle 1

5. Water governance must be
accountable to communities at a
local level and communities must be
able to participate meaningfully in
decision-making. Information must
be public and disseminated to
ensure informed decisions are made.
The South African Water Caucus - Principle 2

6. The integrity of ecosystems is the
basis for all life, and rivers, streams,
groundwater, wetlands must be
respected, protected from pollution
and over-use and rehabilitated where
necessary
The South African Water Caucus - Principle 3

7. Large dams are destructive to
humans and ecosystems. We
therefore endorse a precautionary
approach, with large dams being
seen as a last resort to meeting
water and energy needs.
We call for the adoption and
implementation of the World
Commission on Dams guidelines into
South African policy and legislation,
including the right to prior and
informed consent.
The South African Water Caucus - Principle 4

8. The South African Water Caucus - Principle5
Water is a public good.
The commodification and privatisation of water resources, water
services and sanitation compromises the sustainability, equity and
justice of access, and must be rejected.

9. The South African Water Caucus - Principle 6
Cost recovery should not
be a barrier to people’s
access to water or water
services.

10. The South African Water Caucus - Principle 7 ?
Gender and water …
in the process of
articulation

11. Decentralised network approach
• SAWC is both strengthened and
constrained by its loose structure
• SAWC members learned lessons
from centralised networks such as
EJNF and RDSN
• A decentralised model makes it
hard to fight over or “capture the
centre”
• This allows for a free flow of
thinking, knowledge formation
and sharing, whilst members can
continue with their own
campaigns
• SAWC >> Provincial water
caucuses >> Community water
caucuses

12. Priority issues for SAWC at present
1. Water sector and governance issues
2. Food and productive water
3. People’s access to water in rural areas
4. Drought
5. Sewerage and sanitation - WWTWs
6. Catchment management (CMAs and CMFs)
7. Mines and water
8. Local politics and closing down of spaces
9. Monitoring for compliance
10. Supporting traditional healers in water
11. DW dialogues and policy engagement

13. Creating and sharing knowledge in a Community of Practice
SAWC is able to understand the effects of
policy on the ground, and the dynamics of
changing policy and practice on national,
provincial and local levels.
This is achieved by combining local
knowledge and policy knowledge – and
understanding the interaction between
the two.

14. Example: Community of Practice
EMG’s Taryn Pereira and
Makhaza activist Thembisa
Vani read a municipal water
bill, trying to understand a
credit adjustment. The
confusing billing system
creates misunderstanding and
deepens mistrust.
When water caucus members
have a better understanding of
water bills, they can
spearhead local efforts at
reducing household water
waste, and stand up against
poor treatment by municipal
officials

15. Example: Community of Practice
The Grahamstown Water Tour: a
rare opportunity for citizens to have
direct access to municipal and
DWS officials, in the physical
settings where municipal water
challenges arise. Officials heard
first hand stories of how the
dysfunction affects people in their
daily lives.
There was a meeting at the level of
shared humanity, lots of new and
valuable information was shared,
and empathy developed for the
difficult burdens carried by different
people throughout the system.

16. • Citizens hold knowledge and
need to be part of the
processes of data
generation and planning
• Without the data /
knowledge that citizens can
provide, planning will be
blind to significant aspects
of reality, and therefore
inadequate.
The case for civil society research

17. To meet our own (civil society)
needs for evidence and
analysis to inform and
strengthen our arguments,
tackle problems directly, and to
deepen our understanding of
the issues we’re working with.
We generate knowledge at the
level at which it can be used,
and so that it is accesible to
those with the energy and
motivation to use it.
Why do we do research?

18. How can decision makers benefit from citizen research?
“Civil society helps us to hear
voices that we usually do not
hear”
“This is the level of detail we need”
“It is important that we listen to the
people who are using the service
on a daily basis, as to how they
experience it; not to think for
them”
“It is a reminder that we are also
citizens, and we must work with
what we have”.