South Africa

Gottenburg is located about ten (10) kilometres on the north-eastern side of Hluvukani. This village shares a name with two other neighbouring villages, Thlavekisa and Hlalakahle known as Gottenburg B and C respectively. These are the names used by the department of Agriculture whereas the local municipality uses the local names. Thlavekisa is on the west of Gottenburg and is not in Ward 16 while Hlalakahle is located on the north side.

Initial contact with the village is made through the village Induna (head-man) and the chairperson of the village CDF (Community Development Forum). A meeting was held with these two structures to introduce the SWELL (Securing Water to Enhance Local Livelihoods) concept and to highlight the intention of carrying out an assessment process in the village. It was agreed that the process can take place, a date for the assessment was set and the CDF together with the Induna began inviting villagers to and making arrangements for a meeting that was held at a local school. It was during school vacations so the process did not interfere with school programmes. [authors abstract]

This report is a part of  : “South Africa - Access to water and livelihoods in Ward 16, Bushbuckridge”

Over the past years, the NGO AWARD (Association for Water and Rural Development) has been working on a programme entitled SWELL (Securing Water to Enhance Local Livelihoods) in ward 16 of the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality, South Africa. The aim of the programme is to develop an approach for integrated planning of rural water services to enhance people’s livelihoods, especially of the poorest and most vulnerable groups in the communities. This report aims to provide insight into the current role of water in people’s livelihoods and especially how that is shaped by access to water.

The report shows that at first sight typical water-based activities, such as gardening, livestock or small business, are not the main source of livelihood for the people in the area. However, they do play a crucial role in diversifying and reducing vulnerability and dependency on other sources of livelihood. They also do provide important nutritious food and cash to the poorer households.

The extent to which these livelihoods activities can be undertaken depends to a large extent on access to water. Whereas in the area access to water resources is not a major limiting factor, the current infrastructure and its management is. Poor design, operation and maintenance result in frequent break-downs and unreliable supply. As a result people curtail or delay their productive activities. But they are also affected in other aspects of their livelihoods, especially time spent on water collection. As coping strategies they may have to go to neighbouring villages to collect water, buy expensive water from private vendors or store water at household level. The poorest and most vulnerable groups lack the assets to deal with these stresses.

Main recommendations include a number of strategies to improve immediate access to water, especially through clarifying institutional roles and responsibilities and developing operation and maintenance plans. In addition, recommendations are given to integrated planning for multiple uses. Understanding livelihoods, especially of the poorest people and households, is crucial in this.

A full synthesis report can be downloaded here, as well as short summary reports of the villages where the assessments were done.

Institutional framework, water pricing structures and costs of domestic water services in rural poor areas of the Olifants River basin, South Africa

This report by Marie Lefebvre, MSc student, focuses on the domestic water sector in South Africa. It presents the general institutional and policy framework for the domestic water services. Water tarifs and subsidy policy of several Water Services Authorities operating in the former homeland areas in the Olifants river basin are analysed with regards to the objectives of cost-recovery, economic efficiency, affordability, administrative costs and equity. It also analyses the costs of rural water schemes currently transfered by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry to local governments.

MSc report submitted in Oct 2005

This case study complements the paper with an introduction to the methodology. It provides an example of how SWELL has been applied in the Bushbuckridge Municipality in South Africa.