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How to cite this thesis
Surname, Initial(s). (2012) Title of the thesis or dissertation. PhD. (Chemistry)/ M.Sc. (Physics)/ M.A. (Philosophy)/M.Com. (Finance) etc. [Unpublished]: University of Johannesburg. Retrieved from: https://ujcontent.uj.ac.za/vital/access/manager/Index?site_name=Research%20Output (Accessed: Date). UNDERSTANDING PROTEST AS A FORM OF POPULAR PARTICIPATION IN WATER GOVERNANCE: THE CASE OF MADIBENG MUNICIPALITY, NORTH WEST
By
EUNICE NTSHADIKO KHUMALO
MA DISSERTATION
Submitted in fulfilment of the
Requirements for the degree
MASTERS OF ARTS
In
DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
At the
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
At the
UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG
SUPERVISOR: Prof M. Galvin
CO-SUPERVISOR: Dr L. Sinwell
Submission date: January 2018
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ABSTRACT
Natural freshwater is a precious resource, without which there is no human life. However, much of the literature on water indicates a tendency of people to overexploit this resource arguing that they exacerbate its likelihood of scarcity in the nearer future. Post 1994, the government has sought ways to manage water properly thus passing new laws and policies in this regard. Of significant importance is the Bill of Rights which was established in 1994 and calls for the protection of human rights, including water, stressing that every South African citizen has the right to access water. Ideally, every household is entitled to 6 kilolitres of water a month. However, the scenario is different for villages that fall within Madibeng Municipality in the Northwest Province, particularly Mothutlung, where four people died in 2014 while fighting for their right to access clean drinking water.
This research explores the historical processes in which Mothutlung residents engaged their municipality, and how some of the failed engagements led to service delivery protests by the residents. Mothutlung is a small township located at Brits, in the North West Province. Understanding the history of this township is fundamental in highlighting the implications of apartheid in Mothutlung, thus illustrating how the present situation is a reflection of the apartheid era. In essence, investigation into the history of Mothutlung is vital for understanding the present inconsistencies in service delivery between the various townships falling within the municipality and how they were shaped by the previous oppressive system. Understanding the history of the township also aids in tracing and understanding how and when protests were enacted.
Using qualitative research methods, a total of eighteen participants were interviewed, including a municipal official, the councillor and Mothutlung residents. The research discovered that, although the major protest over water occurred in January 2014, the issue began in 2010 when residents had to make means to fetch water at their local mine and in areas as far as Ga-Rankuwa which is 15 kilometres away from Mothutlung. Residents stated that the protest was mainly triggered by corruption within their municipality as they learnt that municipal officials benefited from the tankering system they introduced as a temporary measure to deliver water to the community. Another important finding is that the main problem facing the community currently is that people
4 | P a g e who cannot afford to buy water at local supermarkets are compelled to drink brownish, contaminated, water which sometimes make them sick.
Similar protests to that in Mothutlung have been happening all around South Africa, thereby qualifying it to be branded as "the protest capital of the world" as it has had the highest rates of public protest in the world since 1994, and these continue to rise significantly. However, scholars who focus on service delivery protests in the post- apartheid period have not paid enough attention to the local histories which may influence how and when protests are enacted. This dissertation traces the history of Mothutlung back to its establishment in April 1972. During these years, the Bophuthatswana government ensured good service delivery and proper infrastructure. The transition into democracy in 1994 led to people expecting even better service delivery. However these expectations were instead met with deteriorating service delivery, leading to the build-up of frustrations and anger amongst citizens, particularly in Mothutlung, where residents have been experiencing water interruptions since 2001.
As a result of better quality service delivery in Mothutlung in the apartheid era, protests were previously used as a tool to oppose racial segregation and oppression. However, the post-apartheid era has seen a shift in the reasons why people protest and demonstrate their needs in the street. The protest of early 2014 in Mothutlung was a result of deteriorating water quality and interruptions, coupled with alleged corruption in the tankering system which was initiated to assist the community to access water. Consequently, four people lost their lives fighting for their human right to access water. In a nutshell, communities have lost faith in engaging their municipalities through invited spaces and have invented their own spaces by rebelling in the form of service delivery protests. Arguably, the built-up anger and frustrations over false promises have led to the communities taking to the streets to demonstrate their grievances, not necessarily to challenge the state but to change the status quo. The notion of “Rebellion of the Poor” will be used to understand the scenario of Mothutlung where four people lost their lives at the mercy of the police during a service delivery protest.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost, I am grateful to the Almighty God for the wisdom, strength, good health and perseverance He bestowed upon me to see this Masters project through. This project would have not become a reality without the support and help from various people whom I would love to take this moment to say, Kelebogela lorato le tshegetso eo le mphileng yona gareng ga loeto le ke le tsamaileng go fitlhelela ke fetsa dithuto dikgolwana tsa masetase. This achievement would have not been possible without the participation and assistance of so many people whose names may not all be enumerated.
I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my principal supervisor Prof Mary Galvin and Co-supervisor Dr Luke Sinwell for their support, constant guidance and advices that brought the success of this project. The knowledge and ample time they shared with me is greatly appreciated.
I am highly indebted to my family and friends for their endless support and encouragement which helped me in completing this project.
To my Mom, Jacobeth Khumalo who always stood by my side and motivated me to work hard to achieve the best outcomes with this project. Thank you mom for walking this journey with me and being my alarm during tough and hectic hours of the morning. To my sister (Omphemetse Khumalo), thank you for being a good listener and a pillow of my strength, I would have not done this project without your support and motivation To my cousins and friends, thank you for always cheering me up when I felt down, there was no way I could give up with all the love and support you have showered me with. To Siphiwe Mbatha and Hendrick More, thank you guys for holding my hand when I felt anxious in the research field, I would have not obtained good quality interviews without your assistance. I am truly grateful for all the support and knowledge you shared with me.
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Omphemetse Moruane, thank you for being a friend indeed and offering to type all my transcribed interviews. I would have not been able to complete this project in time if it was not for your assistance. To Refilwe Oreboleng, Mbali Sithole, Masedi Gopane, Nonkululeko, Kgomotso Manamela, Kamogelo Malesa (Ayanda), Auspicious Sadiki, Kgothatso Mokgele, Thembelihle Maseko, Lesego Seaketso and Fikiswa Simelane, I genuinely appreciate your love and support guys. You have made my academic journey an awesome one, thanks . I would also love to express my heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Larry Onyango for his insightful feedback on my chapters, it is through your help that this project was a success. To Dr Heidi Brooks, Many thanks for your insightful and constructive feedback. This paper would have not been a smooth read had it not been for your comments and suggestions. Many thanks to Dr. Simphiwe Nojiyeza for his time and sharing his knowledge on water with me. Even though I normally gate-crushed your seminars with your students, I am thankful for all the insights I gained at each and every seminar. I place on record, my genuine gratitude to my Center for Social Change family for their love, support, encouragement and constructive feedback during our seminars. I am also thankful for all the good times we shared together. I humbly send my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to all my participants and the community of Mothutlung in general for trusting me with their stories and welcoming me with love to conduct my fieldwork. My thanks and gratitude also goes to everyone who in one way or the other shared their support either physically, emotionally, morally and financially. I am forever indebted to you guys.
Without the financial assistance from National Research Foundation (NRF) through Center for Social Change, this project would have not been possible. Therefore, I am forever grateful to Dr Edith Phaswana for sharing information about this bursary with me
7 | P a g e as well as encouraged me to apply. Last but not least, special thanks goes to Prof Peter Alexander who afforded me the opportunity to be amongst their bursars since 2015.
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Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...... 6 Table of Contents ...... 9 LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABREVIATIONS ...... 12 Chapter one ...... 14 Orientation and contextualisation ...... 14 Introduction and background to the study ...... 14 1.1. Problem statement ...... 16 1.2. Aims and objectives ...... 19 1.4. Rationale for the study ...... 19 1.5. Significance of the study ...... 21 1.6. Research area ...... 22 1.7. Scope and demarcation ...... 23 1.8. Organisation of the research report ...... 23 Chapter two ...... 26 Literature review ...... 26 2.1. Water sector background ...... 26 2.1.1 Introduction ...... 26 2.1.2. Background of the South African water sector ...... 27 2.1.3. Water sector framework ...... 33 2.1.4. The concept of water governance ...... 37 2.1.5. Approaches in water governance ...... 38 2.1.6. Challenges of water governance unpacked ...... 40 2.1.7. Decentralisation and water governance ...... 41 2.1.8. Corruption in relation to water governance ...... 44 2.2 Invited and invented spaces of participation: exploring alternative ways to explain protest ...... 45 2.2.1 Conceptualizing popular participation ...... 45 2.2.2. Revisiting the two spaces of participation ...... 46 2.2.3. Using great expectation and a sense of betrayal to explain protest built-up ....50 2.3. “Service delivery” protests: “A Rebellion of the Poor”? ...... 51 2.3.1. Conceptualising “rebellion” ...... 51 2.3.2. Unpacking the evolution of the concept of protest ...... 52 2.3.3. Statistical evidence for the increase in local protests ...... 56 2.3.4. Forms of protests ...... 57
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2.3.5. Arguments for, and reasons why people protest ...... 58 2.3.6. Features of a protest ...... 64 2.3.7. Targets of protestors ...... 65 2.3.8. Protest methods ...... 66 2.3.9. Conclusion ...... 67 Chapter three...... 69 3.1. Introduction ...... 69 3.2. Research design and methodology ...... 69 3.3. Sampling profile ...... 72 3.4. Sampling and recruitment ...... 74 3.5. Data collection methods ...... 78 3.5.1. Semi-structured interviews and observation ...... 78 3.5.2. Document analysis ...... 81 3.6. Data analysis method ...... 82 3.6.1. Reflexivity ...... 82 3.6.2. Triangulation ...... 84 3.7. Ethical considerations ...... 85 3.8. Limitation of the study ...... 86 3.9. Conclusion ...... 87 Chapter four ...... 88 Mothutlung, the continued struggle for water ...... 88 4.1 Historical background of Mothutlung ...... 88 4.1.1 Introduction...... 88 4.1.2 Background of Madibeng Local Municipality ...... 92 4.1.3 Demographic information ...... 92 4.1.4 Political make-up and administrative management ...... 93 4.1.5 General overview of Mothutlung Township ...... 94 4.1.6 Development of Mothutlung Township and its governance under Bophuthatswana (1970-1993) ...... 96 4.1.7 Mothutlung township after the 1994 transition ...... 100 Housing and electricity...... 106 Infrastructure and the water sector ...... 108 Water quality and tariffs ...... 117 4.1.8 Contentions in poor water service delivery ...... 127 Aging infrastructure ...... 128
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Lack of capacitated staff in the municipality ...... 129 Corruption ...... 130 4.1.9 Measures to improve water service delivery ...... 134 Tankering system ...... 134 Purchasing bottled water ...... 137 4.1.10 Addressing the question of democracy within the municipality ...... 138 4.1.11 Engagements between the community members and their municipality ...... 141 4.2 Detailed chronology of events of Mothutlung protest ...... 144 4.2.1 Development of the protest in Mothutlung ...... 144 4.3 Outcomes of the protest action ...... 156 4.3.1 Protest outcomes ...... 156 4.3.2 Betrayal within the protesting community ...... 163 4.3.3 Conclusion ...... 164 Chapter five ...... 165 Conclusion and recommendations ...... 165 5.1 Introduction ...... 165 5.2 Conclusion ...... 165 5.3 Recommendations ...... 169 REFERENCES ...... 173
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LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABREVIATIONS
ACDP African Christian Democratic Party
ANC African National Congress
APC African People`s Convention
CDE Centre for Development and Environment
CIC Chief in Command
CODESA Convention for a Democratic South Africa
COPE Congress of the People
CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
DWA Department of Water Affairs
DWAF Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
EFF Economic Freedom Fighters
FBW Free Basic Water
IDP Integrated Development Plan
IRMSA Institute of Risk Management South Africa
IRR Institute of Race Relations
IWRM Integrated Water Resource Management
LED Local Economic Development
LGH Local Government Handbook
MDG Millennium Development Goals
MLM Madibeng Local Municipality
NWHC North West Housing Corporation
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RDP Reconstruction Development Programme
SAHRC South African Human Rights Commission
UN United Nations
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific Cultural Organisation
UNICEF United Nations International Children`s Emergency Fund
WHO World Health Organisation
UNOCHA United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian African Affairs
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Chapter one Orientation and contextualisation
Introduction and background to the study
Water is a vital resource for sustaining human livelihoods and its access is fundamental for curbing water-borne diseases (Algotsson and Murombo, 2009). Water is fundamental not only for human consumption, but also for economic growth as well as sustaining livelihoods across the globe (Cleaver, Franks, Boesten, and Kiire, 2006). To put it simply, without water, there is no life hence many communities will resort to protesting when they are deprived of this resource. Although a water scarce country, South Africa has adequate water sources which should make it possible for everyone to have equal, some argue free, access to this resource (Zhuwakinyu, 2012; Newby, 2002 and Cleaver et al, 2006). While the government claims that 88 percent of households have access to water, it is clear at the grassroots level that not everyone enjoys this human right, whether due to a lack of infrastructure, interruptions, or non-affordability. This study uses a case study of Mothutlung village in Madibeng in order to demonstrate the historical process that has led residents of this community to protest over water.
Poor management and governance of this resource are primarily blamed for lack of water access in municipalities such as Madibeng (Bond, 2014; UNESCO, 2016). What is more, despite having sufficient water resources, South Africa is classified as a water-scarce country mainly because it experiences inconsistent and unpredictable annual rainfall (Zhuwakinyu, 2012). Another contributing factor which needs to be acknowledged, is that there is a tendency for people to overexploit the little freshwater available to them (Hedden and Cilliers, 2014; Chief Liquidity Series Report, 2009 and Draft White Paper Report on Water Services, 2002; Ximena, 2011 cited in Miranda, Hordijk and Molina, 2011). The above argument led to a report by Infrastructure Dialogues (2015) concluding that this tendency to overexploit available freshwater is evidence that people do not realise the value of water and thus use it recklessly. In essence, a report by Zhuwakinyu (2012) reveals that this resource is not only misused by people on the ground. There is evidence that even policy makers and planners do not place adequate value on it.
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Moreover, Anonymous (2014: 1) reported that recent studies reveal that cronyism and corruption are attributable to poor service delivery hence the escalation of protests in many areas. In contrast, President Jacob Zuma is confident that mushrooming protests are a result of municipalities delivering at a successful rate (Heese and Allan, 2014: 1). For the president, protests are more of a reflection of success than failure of delivery. Reasons as to why Mothutlung residents opted to protest will be discussed in chapter four, but it is also something that will be raised throughout this dissertation.
Despite the challenge that the country is experiencing with regards to water, the government has sought to make it its priority to ensure that every South African citizen enjoys their human right to access water. This aim is to be achieved through employing the policies and Acts which will be discussed as the dissertation unfolds. According to Kotch (2014: 1), the dawn of democracy in 1994 saw South Africa’s Constitution being celebrated as the most progressive in the world. South Africa is amongst the few countries that regard water as a constitutional right and the government has put several measures in place to ensure that every South African citizen realises this basic right equitably. For instance, while the bill of rights which was passed in 1994 sought to advocate for human rights and ensure their protection, the Free Basic Water (FBW) policy (2001) aimed to ensure that each household has access to six kilolitres of free basic water per month. However, these efforts by the government have not proven to be fruitful as many communities still have to protest their grievances on the streets.
It is noted that the above scenario is not unique to Mothutlung as there seems to be a growing trend of such protests with many communities, including Ficksburg in Gauteng, and Jericho and Majakaneng in the North West, having to resort to protest in order to get municipal officials to not only listen to them, but also to take them seriously. In Mothutlung, what began as a peaceful march on 14th January 2014 to hand over a memorandum of grievances, including water interruptions, ended in a violent fiasco when police started firing shots at an unarmed crowd which claimed the lives of four residents. Therefore, Molopyane (2014: 1) argues that “the only sin of Mothutlung residents was to demand their basic human right like water”. As a result of this “sin", “death was delivered faster than a service for the people” (Nicolson and Lekgowa, 2014: 1). Although this scenario
15 | P a g e reflects the downfall of protesting more than anything else, people continue protesting for services nonetheless.
According to Alexander et al. (2013), who have dedicated several years of research to tracking and recording protest events in various parts of the country, there was an alarming rise in the number of protests in 2012. This trend is continuing to date, substantiating what Alexander coined “Rebellion of the Poor” in 2010 (Alexander, 2010). Consequently, South Africa has been dubbed “the protest capital of the world” as it has evidenced a growing number of protests over failure of municipalities to provide basic services such as clean running water and proper sanitation (Pfaffe, 2011). From the above arguments, it is evident that progressive, poor South Africans “are doing to the ANC what they did to the apartheid government” in order to have the South Africa they dreamt of (Matlala, 2014: 1). This conclusion follows a quote by the former president Mr Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela that “if the ANC does to you what the apartheid government did to you, then you must do to the ANC what you did to the apartheid government” (Mandela, 1993).
1.1. Problem statement
The anti-apartheid movement witnessed ordinary black people taking to the streets to demand a regime shift away from white minority rule (Swart, 2011). Selmeczi (2015) makes the case that, due to South Africa’s long history of violence, almost each and every discontent is expressed through protest, so much so that this act has come to be normalised. Several cases, including that of Lindiwe Mazibukoi in 2009, Andries Tataneii in 2011 and the Marikana massacreiii in 2012 – two years before the case of Mothutlung where four people lost their lives in what was believed to be a service delivery protest – show that rebellion and violence continue to be an important component of the political landscape of post-apartheid South Africa.
From the cases presented above, it is evident that many South Africans believe that protesting may be a solution to their grievances. According to Booysen (2007: 31; 2009), although voting helps, protest works for the people to acquire what they want, be it the attention of their leaders or the delivery of services. This premise is fundamental when
16 | P a g e faced with deciding which repertoire to use in order to optimise service delivery. Henceforth, protest has been incorporated into these repertoires. However, even with the mushrooming of these protests which saw a peak in 2012 (see Alexander et al, 2013), livelihoods of people at the grassroots remain unchanged. This is despite their unintended consequences such as arrests and even deaths, as was the case with Andries Tatane, the Marikana miners and four residents in Mothutlung. Looking at this growing trend in protest and the transition that took place in 1994, as well as the passing of policies and acts to safeguard human rights, it is imperative to scrutinize why people opt for protest and how they understand it or, rather, why people choose specific avenues to address their grievances.
South Africa has impressive policies and laws in place which are aimed at ensuring that every South African citizen enjoys their basic human rights. However, the scenario is different in practice. As Pillay (2009) points out, irrespective of existing policies, there is a disconnection between the formulation of policies and their implementation due to fiscal challenges which later impede service delivery. According to Bernstein (2007), there is a gap between documented ambitious policies and the availability of resources as well as expertise to achieve them. Although there are many reasons why there has not been policy implementation, including funding and resource constraints, governance remains a key issue which underlies this disjuncture. This notion of disjuncture between policy and its implementation was further echoed by Thabo Mbeki (2007a as quoted in Booysen, 2009). Arguably, with these formulations, an ideal South Africa would be a country which embraces unity and harmony whereby services are delivered to the people as promised on paper and in the long speeches delivered in parliament about how the ruling party envisages this country. However, there are evident discrepancies in what officials promise the people and what they actually deliver on the ground (Lancaster, 2016). This problem is further perpetuated by ongoing inequalities. Those affluent enough to reside in the cities and suburbs enjoy better services than those in the rural settings (Booysen, 2007).
As Booysen (2007) argues, these inequalities further create the divide between the affluent and the poor. For instance, those who reside in the suburbs have access to proper service delivery as they can afford to pay for these services; in contrast, those who cannot
17 | P a g e afford such services are dependent on the government to provide for them. As such, it is unnecessary for those residing in the suburbs to protest over services, while the poor have to constantly remind their municipalities to pay attention to them and cater for their needs. Even so, these poor communities’ grievances are met with false promises and raised expectations of a “better life for all”. Moreover, although some municipalities are trying to deliver services to the people, the quality thereof is not satisfactory. For instance, people in Mothutlung have been complaining about poor service delivery since 2001, which intensified late 2013. Following the major protest and killing of residents in early 2014, the municipality has been rendering the service consistently and yet the water is still contaminated.
It is rather ironic that a municipality named “Madibeng”, which means a place of water, would continue be haunted by the water crisis (Bond, 2014 and Sifile, 2014). Arguably, these discrepancies fuel the belief that municipal officials disrespect ordinary citizens and often take advantage of their situation, enriching themselves while people are suffering on the ground (Pithouse, 2007). On this note, Pfaffe (2011) argues that disrespect for ordinary citizens is also evident in municipal officials’ lack of response to people’s grievances until they take to the streets, as it was also reported by residents that they are under an unresponsive leadership.
Having outlined the above, although it is evident that South Africa is undoubtedly facing a water crisis, some of the factors that perpetuate this crisis are man-made. Given the fact that South Africa is affluent in water sources, then better management of these sources, coupled with effective communication between various stakeholders through strengthening ward committees, would remove the need for people to take to the streets to demonstrate their dissatisfaction (Former Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi quoted in Booysen: 2009, 112). What this dissertation highlights is how the choices of ordinary people to protest can be understood through tracing their historical origins. Given the current situation, it is imperative that we explore how protest is understood by its participants and reflect on what went wrong in order to improve the situation for tomorrow.
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1.2. Aims and objectives
This research project aims to investigate the links between participatory local governance and popular protests. The main research question is: what have Mothutlung residents done to engage with local level governance processes to improve their water services in the events leading up to the early 2014 water protests? In answering this question, the study explores the historical processes through which various, and sometimes failed, forms of institutional engagement led residents to protest. It also examines the protest itself and the social and political dynamics that resulted. The following sub-questions are fundamental in answering the abovementioned research question and ultimately meeting the aim of the study:
1. What are the main problems faced by residents in accessing water?
2. What did residents do to improve the water services?
3. How can we understand the choices made by residents in this respect?
4. What do these choices and their consequences mean for our understanding of service delivery protest?
5. How have municipal officials involved Mothutlung residents in decision-making pertaining to local water services?
1.4. Rationale for the study
My personal experience was the basis for deciding to conduct this study. Growing up in Lerome, which is one of the rural areas in Rustenburg (North West), I had the mentality that protest was only for illiterate people who had nothing to do except waste their time on useless things. This perception was validated in the year 2011 when I was in grade 12 and a group of protestors broke into our school yard and threatened to bomb the school if we did not join them in their protest. The youth were protesting over unemployment and stating that local mines should hire them. At the time, I could not understand why they would do that because we went to school to learn and we expected to learn in a safe environment. In my mind, I thought if they (protesting youth) had the required
19 | P a g e qualifications they would not need to protest, so they should therefore utilise the time they had and go into these mines and apply for jobs.
As if this was not enough, the police came to the scene where protestors were burning tyres and barricading the road. These protestors used us as protection from shots that might be fired by the police. This traumatic event was all it took for me to resent protest and protestors. From this day, I hated protests, and would rather stay home if I hear rumours about the possibility of protest near the school. However, after almost four years holding onto this perception, I was afforded the opportunity to work as a junior research assistant on the “rebellion of the poor” project for the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Social Change under Prof Peter Alexander, Dr Carin Runciman and Dr Trevor Ngwane, along with other research assistants. During this time, my biases and internalised discomforts with protest came to light. Passion to understand protests from the protestors’ point of view developed from my involvement in this project. With this dissertation, I hope to clarify misunderstandings that other people might have with regards to protests. In the same way I learnt not to judge protestors, I hope that this research will improve people’s insight as to why people resort to protesting, even if it means putting their lives on the firing line.
The second reason for conducting this study was to address a gap in the literature. Studies conducted on this topic have sought to measure and track how protests rise on a daily basis, reasons for protesting, methods used for protesting, the authorities that people protest against, as well as the impact of protest on elections (see Booysen, 2007; Alexander, 2010; Duncan, 2009; Pfaffe, 2011 and Alexander et al. 2013). Most studies looking at protests in local places are not historical as they do not look at the historical development of protests dating back to the 1970s. Therefore, this dissertation seeks to incorporate the views of Mothutlung residents regarding the various channels they embarked on to communicate their grievances with the municipality before engaging in a protest. With the questions at hand, I intend to tighten the understanding of how protests develop or rather, why and how they are carried out. This will be done by narrating the story of Mothutlung using newspaper reports, reviews of books and journals, as well as findings from interviews that were conducted with the residents and YouTube videos on
20 | P a g e this issue. I believe that with this kind of study which seeks to look at how various engagements with the municipality have led to the development of a protest, I will be able to bridge the lacuna in research by showing how the history of a local area relates to the role of protest in local water governance processes.
Lastly, the findings of this study capture the challenges that are being experienced in the water sector, which may arguably have triggered protest action from the dissatisfied community. This will be done so as to understand what pushes people to carry on protesting even if it means putting their lives in danger. It is pivotal to note that I will not only be presenting the challenges faced by residents, but also those faced by the municipality in attempting to deliver this precious resource to the people. Once the root causes have been determined, a way forward can be suggested. In most cases, you find that these two stakeholders groups are not aware of the full picture, causing them to simply point fingers at each other. For instance, residents believe that they receive poor quality services mainly because of municipal corruption and are not aware of some of the challenges that are being encountered within the municipality itself. Although this is beyond the scope of this study, some understanding will be shed as to the challenges encountered by municipalities while attempting to deliver services to the people. In essence, recommendations of a way forward will be presented in the conclusion chapter. The findings and recommendations of this study will be shared with the Mothutlung community and municipality in the hope of contributing to the resolution of the local water crisis.
1.5. Significance of the study
This study aims to benefit both stakeholders as it will look at the pros and cons of using protests as a way of communicating with the municipality and afford residents new ways they can engage their municipal officials. This will not only improve service delivery but also ensure that people do not need to risk their lives in the name of getting services. Similarly, recommendations on how officials can better respond to residents will be provided, and the report will be given to the municipality. From this, the municipality can decide which recommendations are applicable in their situation and whether these recommendations will come in handy for them or not. Through these recommendations,
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I hope that the stakeholders can work together to come up with solutions that will work to the benefit of the community. Moreover, I hope that my study will assist in mending the broken relationship and trust between the residents and their municipality.
1.6. Research area
Mothutlung will be used as a case study for this research. It is one of the townships demarcated into Madibeng municipality several years after the overthrow of the Bophuthatswana homeland regime under the late former president Mr. Lucas Mangope. Ever since this transition, the area has been under the leadership of the ANC and has had four ANC councillors including Ratlou, MamaBitsela, Davids and Christopher (current). Arguably, service delivery has been alternating during the course of this leadership but, as residents report, service delivery was at its poorest under Councillor Davids who was replaced by Christopher during the 2016 local elections and people are hoping for change during the new councillor’s term of office. As such, Mothutlung was chosen for this study on the basis that, although it was established in the 1970s, it remains less developed than some younger townships in the area such as Dammonsville.
Moreover, the major protest in Mothutlung which received broad public and media attention, sparked my own interest to investigate what is really going on in the area. Furthermore, little has been documented on the history of Mothutlung. I argue that in order to understand reasons why and how protests are enacted requires thorough investigation into the history of a particular research area. This way, the history of protests can be traced and shed light as to how they evolve over time. The protest of 2014 in Mothutlung did not just erupt but developed from a longer-term build-up of anger and frustrations amongst residents. It is also important to note again that this protest came roughly two years after the Marikana massacre and Mothutlung is under 100 kilometres away from the former; therefore, it is quite relevant to look at the dynamics of why one municipality would witness such big protests a short time after the Marikana events. Although the communities in Mothutlung and Marikana were fighting over two different things, a number of lives were claimed in the process and, as residents have argued, some of the police who were deployed for the protest in Mothutlung were spotted in the documentary
22 | P a g e of the Marikana massacre. Detailed historical background of Mothutlung will be presented in chapter four.
1.7. Scope and demarcation
Although the water sector is very broad with different stakeholders playing various complementary roles, this dissertation will only look at how decentralisation plays a role in ensuring delivery of water resources. There is a growing body of evidence that water delivery has been decentralised to local municipalities as Water Service Authorities which are mandated to manage local provision. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), as well as the host municipality, only play the role of ensuring that local municipalities deliver on their competencies. This study only looked at how local residents engage their municipality in delivering their grievances concerning service delivery. Furthermore, this study does not seek to understand how water catchment boards and agencies are developed and managed, nor the power at play within and between these institutions. Although sanitation may be a key issue in the water sector, it will not be dealt with in detail as it is beyond the scope of my focus as I am looking at water delivery- related protest in Mothutlung.
1.8. Organisation of the research report
Chapter 1: This chapter has presented the aim, objectives and rationale for the study. It has provided a brief background of the water sector together with the challenges within the sector. The significance of the study and the nature of the chosen location (Mothutlung) have been delineated, as well as presenting the scope of the research and research question.
Chapter 2: This chapter comprises of a detailed review of literature on the background of the water sector in South Africa. It is divided into three sections. Examples of secondary sources reviewed include books, newspaper and journal articles as well as legislation documents and media reports. The first section looks at the laws and policies underpinning the water sector in South Africa. The second section is a broad discussion on water governance, its approaches and challenges. It also presents the ways to move
23 | P a g e towards improved water governance. This section provides a foundation for understanding the root causes of popular protests as it is argued across this study that amongst other factors, including lack of infrastructure and poor maintenance, poor governance leads to poor service delivery hence the mushrooming service delivery protests.
The third section presents the theoretical framework underpinning the study. It presents theorisations from renowned protest experts alluding to what factors may lead people to take to the streets. The argument running throughout the chapter is that, although the country might be facing the issue of water scarcity, this is not the only challenge that causes inequalities in the sector. Other factors that come into play include poor governance and flawed polices that the government endorsed in an attempt to mitigate service delivery issues, particularly water. This does not only lead to the mushrooming of the protests since 1994 but also claims the lives of the people as they continue to fight for poor service delivery.
Chapter 3: This chapter explains the methodology adopted in this study. It further explains how the sample was selected and where, as well as methods used to collect and analyse data. It is also in this chapter that the ethics underpinning the study are discussed, together with factors that almost made it impossible to conduct the study.
Chapter 4: This is the findings chapter and comprises three sections. The first section is the background section which will look at how Mothutlung was established. Prior to understanding the historical development of Mothutlung, a synopsis of the background of Madibeng together with its political composition and scope of delivery is delineated. This section is significant, mainly because it positions this study as the first in history to provide concrete historical background of Mothutlung township as academics have not attempted to trace this history in the past. It was made possible by the review of the local municipalities’ handbook and interviews with a few local elders who were amongst the first groups to be moved into Mothutlung.
The second section comprises newspaper articles and individual interviews that were conducted with some of Mothutlung’s residents by independent newspaper reporters. It provides a chronology of events to highlight some of the important events that took place
24 | P a g e in Mothutlung before and after the major protest of 2014. This section is significant as it aims to present the details of the protest to shed light on what actually transpired on the days before and during the protest. The final section is more like an analysis of the events of Mothutlung protest. It aims to present the outcomes that came thereafter the protest.
Chapter 5: This final chapter provides conclusions and recommendations developed from conducting this study.
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Chapter two Literature review
2.1. Water sector background
2.1.1 Introduction
In this chapter, I engage with three different sets of literature: water services for the background to the study, debates on invited and invented spaces of participation to explain the build-up of protests and, finally, protest literature to discuss how protest has been utilised by people on the ground over time. Sources reviewed for this chapter include the South African Constitution, legislation and policies; books and academic journals; and newspaper articles and media briefings.
The literature review is structured in three sections. The first section starts with a broad discussion on the situation of the water sector both currently and as anticipated in the future. It then examines the role of governance in the delivery of water services following the arguments by Bond (2014) and UNESCO (2016) who hold that poor resource management and governance is leading to the poor performance of the water sector. It should be noted that despite the policies and legislation put in place to ensure equal provision and protection of the basic human right to access water, if the resource is poorly managed then the efforts to address challenges in the water sector will not be successful. A brief overview of the background of the South African water sector is provided, including aspects such as how water is distributed, delivered, accessed and supplied. Furthermore policies and legislation underpinning the water sector are outlined so as to understand how the government has taken measures to protect the basic rights of its citizens in regard to water.
The second section is primarily concerned with the build-up of protest action. Differing explanations as to how protest events develop are discussed. There is also a brief discussion on the interplay between invited and invented spaces of participation. In addition, debates on how expectations and a sense of disappointment may fuel development of a protest is discussed. The last point paves the way for the third section which discusses protests in general, beginning with its historical development and how it
26 | P a g e had been instrumental in aiding the participating community in addressing their various grievances over time. Moreover, this section engages with South African protest theorists including Alexander, Booysen and Bond. It outlines various reasons why people protest, as well as looking at protest in its broader context. The significance of these three sections is to shed light on how protests have been understood and how they developed historically, as well as how they continue to shape people’s struggle over delivery of services such as water and sanitation.
2.1.2. Background of the South African water sector
Water scarcity is experienced when water demand exceeds available water supply (Winpenny, 1997; Al Fry, 2006). A country may experience the problem of water shortages, not because the resource is scarce or absent altogether, but due to faulty infrastructure or deteriorating water quality (Hedden and Cilliers, 2014). South Africa is described as a water-scarce country (Zhuwakinyu, 2012: 8). Apart from water being a scarce resource in South Africa, people tend to put more pressure on this threatened resource by overexploiting and mismanaging it. Additionally, failure to invest in water services and to collect as well as reuse water efficiently exacerbate water challenges thus contributing to a situation whereby water demand surpasses water supply (Zhuwakinyu, 2012).
2.1.2.1. Water availability in South Africa
Despite South Africa being a water scarce country, “the available water resources are not equitably distributed and are sometimes used inefficiently” (Zhuwakinyu, 2012: 3). Some sectors are given preferential access to water. These sectors include mining and agriculture over domestic consumption. There is also unequal access to water by rural and urban areas. The disparities in access between rural and urban settings have been highlighted by Zhuwakinyu (2012: 6): “rural communities are still at a clear disadvantage when it comes to access to water and sanitation compared to their urban counterparts”. According to a report by Chief Liquidity Series (2009), other factors that contribute to water scarcity include social and demographic factors such as distribution of significant settlements and industry adjacent to mineral deposits, rather than water resources.
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A different school of thought contends that South Africa has enough water to meet its needs (Zhuwakinyu, 2012). Since authors including Newby (2002) and Cleaver et al (2006) as well as Zhuwakinyu (2012) argue that South Africa has ample water sources for everyone, I deduce that with proper management and infrastructure, theoretically speaking, water might be sufficient for all its current uses. However, in reality, factors such as urbanisation, population growth and increased demand from user sectors as well as lack of investment in infrastructure and deteriorating water quality exacerbate water shortages in many regions of the world, thus we end up with a situation whereby current water demand surpasses supply (Hedden and Cilliers, 2014).
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and Onda, LoBuglio, and Bartram of the United Nations International Children`s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) (2012) argue that the period between 1990 and 2010 witnessed significant progress in access to services whereby two billion people gained access to improved water sources, while about 1.8 billion people had access to sanitation. Despite these achievements, shortcomings were also evident. 780 million people still lack access to water, while 2.5 billion do not have access to improved sanitation. Following this argument, it is imperative to note that although significant progress has been made in improving water access and availability in post- apartheid South Africa, the challenge to deliver to all South Africans still persists (Infrastructure Dialogues report, 2015; UNOCHA, 2009a). Consequently, affected communities’ fury and frustrations bottle up and result in protest outbursts which will be discussed in greater detail in the next section.
2.1.2.2. Water supply and demand
There is increasing contestation over access to water. This manifests itself in the form of protests. Miranda et al. (2011) argue that a water crisis may be evident due to water conflicts relating to inefficient and poor quality water services. It should also be noted that there is a gap in water supply between the poor and those who are economically able (Boelens and Davilla, 1998: 447; in Miranda et al. 2011). The above argument by Boelens and Davilla illustrates that water is a powerful tool that can be used to divide urban spaces into “areas with and without water” (Miranda et al., 2011). Despite these arguments, Al Fry (2006: 10) highlighted that water supply in South Africa improved in 2002 as over half
28 | P a g e of the population gained access to improved drinking water sources. Although the progress of enhancing water supply may be argued to have improved, South Africa still faces a backlog of adequate water supply to almost 1.4 million households and basic sanitation to about 2.1 million households. Scant supply of services is believed to be a contributing factor in the mushrooming of both peaceful and violent service delivery protests. Arguably, if these supply issues are not properly addressed, the country might find itself with the risk of a water and sanitation crisis in the future (Infrastructure Dialogues report, 2015).
However, Mustafa (2010) cautions against the belief that water conflicts are inevitable because of the water’s future absolute scarcity. I therefore argue that this situation can be manipulated by simply creating infrastructure to store water during rainy days. The Overview of the South African Water Sector (2013) report indicates that there is a possibility that “at least 3.5 billion people will face water scarcity by 2025”. Therefore, there is a need for the Department of Water Affairs to impose additional, aggressive measures to the existing ones in order to prevent future water scarcity. Mustafa (2010) and the Overview of the South African Water Sector report of 2013 conclude that the strategy to curb the mismatch between supply and demand is to reduce the volume of non-revenue water. This argument will be dealt with again in subsequent section.
2.1.2.3. Water distribution and access
South Africa is classified as a water-scarce country mainly because, although it may have abundant water resources, it experiences inconsistent and unpredictable annual rainfall (Zhuwakinyu, 2012) and even so, people tend to overexploit the little freshwater available to them (Hedden and Cilliers, 2014; Chief Liquidity Series, 2009 and draft White Paper on Water Services, 2002; Ximena, 2011). For the Infrastructure Dialogues (2015: 3), not only do people over-exploit available freshwater but also “policy-makers and economic developers do not appreciate the value of water” and thus use it recklessly. Furthermore, this trend, in conjunction with the growing demand and inefficient use of the water resources, qualify South Africa as a water-constrained country hence it is classified as the 30st driest country in the world (Hedden and Cilliers, 2014; World Cup Legacy Report, 2011). The implications of this do not only include curbing human development but also
29 | P a g e hindering economic growth as “the water sector is an important engine for economic growth” (draft White Paper on Water Services, 2002).
According to Hedden and Cilliers (2014), one of the implications of apartheid is manifested in the unequal distribution of water and its allocation to areas that were previously disadvantaged. There is a need to ensure equal access for everyone. Arguably, mismanagement and uneven distribution are the main factors that explain water shortages in the country. Newby (2002) maintains that the prominent water shortages are attributable to uneven distribution and mismanagement of existing supplies which need improving. Due to unequal distribution of the water resource, Chief Liquidity Series (2009) postulates that North West is amongst the provinces that bear the brunt of water scarcity compared to other provinces like Northern Cape and Free State. Despite the above, Zhuwakinyu (2012) and Newby (2002) still maintain that South Africa is rich in resources which should make possible access to clean drinking water for everyone so that no one has to resort to protesting for water. However, the scenario is different for many municipalities such as Madibeng where residents have suffered from poor water services since 2001 (Davis, 2002).
2.1.2.4. Water delivery in South Africa
Arguably, even if the country has abundant resources to adequately accommodate every citizen with basic services such as water and sanitation as denoted by Bond (2014) and Zhuwakinyu (2012), the high inequality prevalent in South Africa hinders adequate delivery of these services. For Mainganye (2006), inequalities in water availability and access are deeper than they may seem, extending beyond the national level to between and within villages. For example, there are inconsistencies in the portion of water received by some villages compared to their neighbouring villages, you may find that although two villages belong in the same municipality, one village experiences water interruptions when water supply in the other village is adequate. This leads to an unacceptably high number of citizens being deprived of their Constitutional right to access water services (Newby, 2002). For instance, with reference to the Mazibuko case against water privatisation, it is evident that inequalities in the water sector persevere regardless of progress allegedly made in water access (Algotsson and Murombo, 2009).
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According to the former Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, Ronnie Kasrils (2002) (in the draft White Paper on Water Services, 2002), South Africa has limited capacity to provide sufficient water services to some parts of the country, making it even more vulnerable to being called a “water-constrained” country and perpetuating inequalities in water delivery. Lack of leadership and management skills has been the principal cause of poor performance in the water sector over the past 18 years (DWAF, 1994; Bond, 2014). Algotsson and Murombo (2009: 9) argue that many problems that arise in the water sector are attributable to the failure of the government to properly maintain and operate treatment infrastructure which is aging, and tends to get strained. Therefore, investment in infrastructure and policy reform as well as development of appropriate technology will narrow the gap to improve water productivity and increase supply.
2.1.2.5. Water quality in South Africa
Water availability and quality are fundamental determinants of water security (CSIR, 2010). This implies that, in the pursuit of achieving water security, it is important to ensure that people are being supplied with good quality water. However, in the draft of the White Paper on Water Services (2002), it was argued that there is no point in having access to a tap if there is no running water. Likewise, it is not ideal to have the toilet if it is no longer in a working state. According to Algotsson and Murombo (2009), access to safe [drinking] water is fundamental to sustain human life, as insufficient or poor water quality may aggravate common worldwide waterborne diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea. As a resolution to this envisaged problem, the MDGs prioritised halving the proportion of people with no access to clean water and basic sanitation by 2015. Al Fry (2006) argues that the period of 2002 marked an improvement in drinking water sources for over half of the world’s population as they had taps connected to the pipes in their homes. Arguably, this meant that the realisation of the MDG objective was almost met in 2002.
A report from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) (2010) shows that South Africa’s water quality has been deteriorating in the past years due to increased pollution from industries, agriculture and power generation. In addition, water quality deteriorates due to out-dated and scant water and sewage treatment plant infrastructure as well as unskilled operators. However, the World Cup Legacy Report (2011) expressed
31 | P a g e contrasting views. From the White Paper on water and sanitation (1994) [as cited in Algotsson and Murombo (2009)] water users evaluate their water quality through its odour, taste and smell to determine whether it is acceptable for their consumption or not. The World Cup Legacy Report (2011) holds that South Africa’s taps provide citizens with good water quality thus minimising the possibilities of purchasing bottled water believed to be of exceptional quality in almost all parts of the country. However, in response to Al Fry (2006), Zhuwakinyu (2012) cautioned that “drinking water from an improved water source does not necessarily guarantee good [water] quality”. The following subsection talks about how some of the water is lost in the system, aggravates the crisis as some water goes unaccounted for. This aspect is crucial as it adds to the debate about challenges in infrastructure.
2.1.2.6. Non-revenue water
Non-revenue water is the proportion of water being lost or unaccounted for which is normally caused by leaking infrastructure (Infrastructure Dialogues, 2015). This phenomenon also includes water obtained from illegal connections and non-billing. Leaking is accountable for massive proportions of non-revenue water since most of the country’s infrastructure is comprised of a mix of outdated, old or even new, and sometimes overly designed to fit its purpose hence we experience problems such as burst pipes and leaking taps (Infrastructure Dialogues, 2015). For example, the Water Research Commission (cited in Infrastructure Dialogues, 2015) noted that in 2012 the amount of water lost through physical leakages or commercial losses amounted to 36.8% of the available freshwater. Furthermore, the survey cited in Infrastructure Dialogues (2015) indicates that, in 2015, although 96 percent of the population had access to infrastructure, only 85 percent of it was operational. Authors further indicated that the dynamics might be different in rural areas thereby arguing that the figure might be even lower. Even so, most of the infrastructure collapsed in 2015 due to a lack of maintenance by government and municipalities and a high rate of vandalism on the part of users. Other reasons which may exacerbate the amount of non-revenue water include lack of planning and execution, as well as insufficient budgeting by infrastructure managers.
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2.1.3. Water sector framework
Under apartheid, water services were provided on a racial basis by white-led urban and irrigation boards which were taken over by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) in 1994. This implies that the colour of your skin was used to determine whether you should have access to water services or not, and if so, what quantity of water should be granted to you. However the transition brought by democracy in 1994 has been committed to fixing the injustices brought by the apartheid regime by ensuring equal access to basic services for all. This transition led to remarkable changes which include the establishment of water institutions and ensuring equal access to basic services like water for people who historically lacked access, and providing excellent quality of water (van Rooyen, 2009). Despite our current water situation in South Africa, it is crucial to note that significant progress has been made by the South African government in ensuring that it lives up to its promise of fulfilling the human right to access water. One of the steps that has been taken is provision of six free kilolitres of water to all indigent households.
The first step to overcoming the water crisis, is for the country to acknowledge that there is a problem that needs collective intervention from all stakeholders. Efforts from the state can be explained by the devotion and progress made in establishing and enacting acts such as the National Water Act (no 38 of 1998) and declarations (eThekwini Declaration and AfricaSan Action Plan which was established in 2002) to ensure equal access to this resource. The abovementioned policies, Acts and Declarations will be detailed in the following section as they are all interlinked.
The right to access water is clearly stipulated in the Constitution of South Africa (1996) in section 27(a). However, as Algotsson and Murombo (2009) argue, it is vital to note that although access to water is a basic right that must be granted to every South African citizen by the government, the government is obliged to take measures to ensure realisation of this right depending on the availability of this resource. On the other hand, while the government is responsible for delivering water services and ensuring equitable access to its citizens, the latter have the full responsibility not to abuse their right to access
33 | P a g e water and to pay for the services should they exceed their free basic services (White Paper on Water Services, 2002).
Furthermore, Algotsson and Murombo (2009) indicate that several human rights stipulated in the Constitution, including the right to equality and dignity, overlap with and support the right to access to water. Similarly, Morrison, Morikawa, Murphy and Schulte (2009) echoed the correlation between these human rights when they indicated that the right to water is inseparable from other human rights including the right to food, health and adequate housing. This means that although the right to access water is vital for living, the right does not exist on its own as it is complementary to other rights. Or rather, no other right in the Constitution should be treated as superior to the others.
According to Bond (2014), during compilation of the Freedom Charteriv in 1955, water was not listed amongst the human rights advocated for South African citizens. It was only in 1996 when South Africa became celebrated as being amongst the few countries recognising water as a constitutional right that it put measures in place to ensure that every South African citizen realises this basic right equitably (Bond, 2014). Writing in 2009, Morrison et al. (2009) state that although the right to water had not yet been officially recognised in international law, there was an evident increase in the number of national governments in developing countries, including Uruguay and Ecuador, moving towards enshrining this right in their Constitutions. The United Nations (UN) declared water as a human right only in July 2010. A year later after the declaration, the UN Human Rights Commission authorised states to ensure sufficient financing for the sustainable delivery of water and sanitation services. It is for this reason that we see a gradual shift in the number of countries moving towards declaring water as a constitutional right worldwide.
During the introduction of South Africa’s Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) in 1994, it was evident that the inequalities in water supply that were intended to be resolved by the Constitution still existed and interrupted the RDP process. The White Paper on water and sanitation was therefore introduced to redress unequal access to water amongst citizens (Machete, 2011; White Paper on Water Supply and Sanitation Policy, 1994: 3). This included the involvement of women in decision-making pertaining to water services. Involvement of women was significant in ensuring equality in the water
34 | P a g e sector as it was recognised that there was a need for a new policy to benefit every South African citizen equally.
Two years later, the Water Services Act (no 108) was enacted. It serves as the foundation for the legislative framework within which water supply and sanitation services, together with water management and use, needs to take place. It also serves to strengthen the rights stipulated in the Constitution as it acknowledges the constitutional right of all South African citizens to access water (alongside many other human rights), particularly those living in the rural areas. In addition, this Act assists municipalities in embarking on their role as service authorities while catering for the needs of the consumers (Overview of the South African Water Sector report, 2013). As such, the Water Services Act is fundamental in clarifying the role of water services institutions such as water service providers and water boards and that each water institution ought to provide measures to realize this right. The Water Services Act is informed by section 27 of the Constitution, which holds that everyone has the right to access sufficient food and water, and the role of the state in this case is to take reasonable legislative measures to ensure that these rights are fulfilled (Overview of the South African Water Sector report, 2013).
The same year that the White Paper was passed, 1998, the National Water Act (38 of 1998) was also passed to be the framework for water policy in South Africa. Parallel to the above Acts concerned with equality, the latter goes on further to stress efficiency and sustainable use of water resources. Undivided emphasis is placed on ensuring social equity and environmental sustainability of water resources. In order to ensure equitable water access to every citizen, it aims to redress past imbalances brought by the apartheid system and reserve sufficient water to maintain the natural environment. To ensure the above mentioned objectives, the Act provides the framework in which water resources must be protected, used, developed, conserved, managed and controlled (Overview of the South African Water Sector report, 2013). Furthermore, this Act is underpinned by section 24 of the Bill of Rights which holds that everyone has the right to a safe environment that is not harmful to their health and well-being, as well as sustainability of the environment to ensure that it benefits future generations. Lastly, the Act is in line with
35 | P a g e the Constitution as it maintains that human rights ought to be met, promoted and protected by the government.
Given that significant progress had been made with regards to the development of new water policies (i.e.: Free Basic Water), a new institutional as well as financial framework for the provision and development of water services was required. In 2002 the White Paper was therefore revised through a consultative process and is regarded as the new White Paper (Overview of the South African Water Sector report, 2013). It is in this new document that policy approaches regarding water services are clearly articulated. It focused on establishing a new national water department and its role in assuming a direct delivery function on behalf of national government. Essentially, this new White Paper clearly articulates the role of local government as a “key role player” in the delivery of water services, as per the Municipal Structures Act (32 of 2000).
In attempts to address continuing challenges pertaining to water access, the South African government introduced the Free Basic Water policy in late 2000. According to Muller (2002) it was believed that this initiative would assist those who cannot afford to pay for services, in particular those residing in the rural areas, through state-funded access to water (Meyiwa, Nkondo, Chitiga-Mabugu, Sithole, and Nyamnjoh (eds) 2014: 238). Each household is given 6 kilolitres of free basic water to utilise for the whole month, translating to 25 litres of water per individual in a family of eight. However, this provision varies across different provinces, hence we encounter a situation where the system has worked in some areas while proving inefficient in others (Berkowitz, Dugard, Smith, and Tissington, 2009). In order to evaluate the effectiveness of this policy, questions that need to be answered include: is this amount of water sufficient to last the family for the entire month? If not, how can families that cannot afford to go beyond this free basic water best use the water provided to them? For those who can afford water, how can we ensure that everyone has equal access?
Now that the background of the water sector has been outlined, it is crucial to broaden the discussion by transitioning to the debate on the role that governance plays in the delivery of water services. Although there seems to be a direct proportional relationship between water governance and delivery of water, it should be noted that the relationship
36 | P a g e alluded to is not as clear cut as it is made out to be. This is primarily because it will seem too narrow and simplistic to assume that countries with poor governance systems have poor water service delivery and vice versa. The concept of governance itself is also contextual. However, as arguments hold in the South African context, poor management of this resource has proven to impact on how this resource is delivered to the people. In order to make this case, the following section conceptualizes water governance and how it has impacted on the effectiveness of the water sector in delivering water services to the people. It also looks at how challenges in water governance have been addressed and how we might transition to good governance of water resources.
2.1.4. The concept of water governance
The concept of governance is highly contested as its definition can vary by discipline. According to Green (2007), there is generally no universal definition of governance. Parallel to Green (2007) is Tortajada (2010) who reiterates that governance is conceptualised in a number of ways and further indicates that it operates at different levels. For example, neo-liberals understand poor governance to be a situation whereby there is inadequate market participation compared to the primary role given to the government and they believe that in order to rectify this mismatch, government’s role must be minimised. Moreover, “governance is a conflictive process whereby existing power structures ought to play a pivotal role” (Miranda et al. 2011, 16). Batchelor (2003) notes that governance can also be defined from a “lack of democracy” perspective, in which factors such as transparency, accountability and subsidiary are considered. Often times, governance is defined in terms of how it is envisioned instead of what it is actually (Batchelor, 2003).
Governance is primarily “concerned with the processes in which decisions on a particular phenomenon are made, and by whom those decisions are taken as well as under what conditions they are made” (Moench, Dixit, Janakarajan, Rathore, and Mudrakartha, 2003). In addition, it is less concerned with what the endorsed decisions entail and more with how allocative and regulatory politics are being exercised in the management of, for example, water resources. Moreover, governance embraces the informal and formal institutions in which power is being exercised (Batchelor, 2003). Pillay (2004) defines
37 | P a g e governance as traditions and institutions by which authority is exercised for a common goal in a country. Following a broad conceptualisation of governance, I deduce that good governance is concerned with making and implementing decisions, enabling the citizens to hold political officials accountable for their actions and the decisions they have made.
For Rogers and Hall (2003: 7), “Water governance relates to a variety of political, social, economic and administrative systems that exist to develop and manage water resources as well as the delivery of water services to various levels of society”. Furthermore, these systems control decision-making pertaining to water resource development and management. Basically, the above definitions are concerned with the processes of how water is governed or managed, rather than who is in charge of governing water. Troop (2007) argues that because good governance requires collaborative participation by various stakeholders, governance is therefore not limited to the government but includes the private sector and civil society as well.
2.1.5. Approaches in water governance
This section outlines four approaches to water governance. It is important to outline these approaches because, as Miranda et al. (2011) argue, the way in which one views water greatly influences how it will be managed and governed. If one views water as an economic good, for example, one is highly likely to call for privatisation of this precious resource unlike subsidising it as a basic human right.
1. Water as an economic good
Water came to be defined as an economic good in an international conference held in Dublin in 1992. In this approach, water is regarded as an economic resource and encourages recycling and reuse for sustainability and usage for other different human activities. According to Green (2007), Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) was adopted by Global Water Partnerships in 2000 to promote coordinated management of water resources. However, little has been implemented thus far. Emphasis on this approach is to make the private sector the key deliverer of water services, which supports privatisation of the natural resource.
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2. Water as a social good (human right)
Access to “safe and clean drinking water and sanitation” was declared a human right by the UN General Assembly since water is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all other overlapping rights. In contrast to the above approach which calls for the full privatisation of water, this approach holds that people cannot live without water. Therefore, it should not be privatised as this would be violating users’ human rights (Nealer, 2009: 74). Although this approach supports the principle that people be granted access to water as a human right, this does not imply that it should be for free. Proponents of this approach hold that the state ought to subsidise water for those who are vulnerable and cannot afford to pay for water. This dissertation is underpinned by this approach mainly because I believe that access to basic services, particularly water, is a human right and no one should have to fight and put their life on the line to access a right clearly articulated in the Constitution. This approach further advocates for the responsibility of the state to provide sufficient, affordable, and accessible water resources and also, encourages those with high economic value to contribute to the provision of [equitable] water for all.
3. Water as a socio-ecological good (right for humans and other living beings)
This approach advocates for nature in general, and requires that every community comply with the laws of nature so as to protect it and have respect for all elements that form an ecosystem. This extends the human right approach to include the right of all elements of an ecosystem. It requires that the voices of nature should be considered and incorporated in decision-making. The argument in this approach is that, “nature does not only provide water, but also needs it to secure its sustenance” (Miranda et al. 2011). It is believed that this process will ensure sustainability of the habitat. In other words, “water is a common good which is intrinsically linked to the territory, ecosystems and other living things that depend on it (Bustamante, 2006).
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4. Water as a service to be paid for
The final approach perceives water as a service to be paid for, either directly through [water] tariffs or indirectly through subsidies. Therefore, the regulation of tariffs is vital in this approach as it is believed to be capable of ensuring equity.
2.1.6. Challenges of water governance unpacked
Moore and Unsworth (2006) explored the historical roots of governance challenges in poor countries and discovered that the factors lie in the need for governments to exercise real authority, become more democratic and participatory, as well as abide by the country’s laws. Factors also extend to the inability of aid donors to contribute to solving these problems through direct interventions; their failure to embrace the diversity of African countries and treating them as homogenous; and the exacerbation of several governance problems by international factors over which rich countries have some control (Moore and Unsworth, 2006).
Several studies in developing countries outline that factors which exacerbate poor service delivery in the water sector include dysfunctional sector policies and institutions as well as insufficient investment in water services (Batchelor, 2003; Dovi, 2007; Plummer and Slaymaker, 2007). According Dovi (2007), the abovementioned factors encompass poor governance systems that impair sufficient and good quality water services. Following from this, it is essential to note the relationship between countries with poor service delivery and those with poor governance as argued by Plummer and Slaymaker (2007). These authors point out that “there is a direct correlation between the countries most lacking in water services and those with poor governance”. If this assertion of direct proportionality between the two aspects is valid, then this would mean that countries with poor governance have relatively poor service delivery and vice versa.
Owing to the above discussion on the South African context, it is believed that a failure to govern water has led to the water crisis at present and is expected to lead to an intensified water crisis in the future (Batchelor, 2003). According to the Institute of Risk Management South Africa (IRMSA) (2015), the failure of governance is evident at the local government level as the lives of many remain unimproved in rural areas. In addition, Pillay (2009)
40 | P a g e argues that the failure of local governance is perhaps more evident because it is always targeted at the failures of national government as it is believed that attacking local governments would make the latter more effective in the long run. In addition, Piper (2015: 21) argues that “local governments indeed perform poorly mainly because of institutional design flaws, under-resourcing and human resource constraints as well as voter loyalty to incompetent elites”, even when they are given electoral options if they are dissatisfied with service provision.
It is argued that in recognition of the current water crisis brought about by inadequate governance (Goldman, 2007), there is a need to discuss issues of water governance (Piper, 2015 and Benit-Gbaffou, 2015). Moreover, there appears to be a general consensus on the necessity to improve water governance so as to mitigate the challenges that arise in the water sector (Batchelor, 2003). Better governance should result in the amelioration of water scarcity, implying that the objective of “access to water for everyone” as stipulated in the country’s Constitution can be met. According to Batchelor (2003), there is a need to move from a hierarchal or formal authority to a more liberal governance which involves interactions between the state, the private sector and civil society (as the users). This means that all three stakeholders should be allowed to partake in the decision-making processes of water governance.
2.1.7. Decentralisation and water governance
Pillay (2009) explains that post-1994 South Africa is an intergovernmental state founded on the principle of cooperative governance and informed by the country’s Constitution. Although decentralisation resulted from the constitutional negotiations for post-apartheid South Africa, the government did not commit much to decentralisation when confronted with the practical realities of introducing local governments (Galvin and Habib, 2003: 867).
Literature on decentralisation was dominant worldwide in the 1980s and 90s in response to the failures of centralised models of administration. Decentralisation was perceived as a way to bring authorities and power into ordinary people’s reach (Pillay, 2009). According to Wittenberg (2003: 4), decentralisation is simply understood as “bringing the government closer to the people”. It is generally defined as “the transfer of resources and
41 | P a g e authority from the central government to the local people” (Olowu, 2006: 229). In practical terms, however, decisions in South Africa are still taken on a top-down basis.
Perhaps a more detailed definition of decentralisation is that of Moriarty, Butterworth, and Batchelor (2004) who define it as the transfer of central government’s decision-making powers and management responsibilities to lower levels of government, private sector or community and civil society organisations. The proponents of decentralisation maintain that it is fundamental to enabling superior and increased participatory decision-making. As Tanzi (2001: 433) highlights, decentralisation is crucial as it enables national governments to be in touch with people at the grassroots, thereby providing for their needs accordingly. He further highlights that central governments are too detached from the people and provide services uniformly. Decentralised local governments therefore serve as the vehicle between national governments and local people to communicate the relevant needs of the people in order to assist them accordingly.
To deepen this debate, Galvin and Habib (2003) present three cases outlining why various stakeholders support decentralisation. They argue that societal groups mainly concerned with poverty and economic inequalities support decentralisation because they believe it brings development closer to ordinary people, promotes participation and consolidates democracy. This advocacy is in line with the justification presented by Tanzi (2001: 427) who argues that decentralisation promotes participation and improves service delivery. Secondly, Galvin and Habib (2003) argue that other groups, such as technocrats, vouch for decentralisation as they believe that it will lead to more efficient delivery of services. On the other hand, they state that neo-liberals advocate decentralisation with the hope that it will minimise state involvement and maximise market participation, thus benefiting the market at the expense of the poor majority. Based on the above arguments, it is evident that “decentralisation is a political process” (Galvin and Habib, 2003: 865). It is also important to note, as Pillay argues (2009: 141), that politicians perceive decentralisation as a tool to reconnect themselves with social groups that they seem to have been detached from.
Various spheres of government, including national, provincial and local, perform shared functions. Amongst these spheres, the Constitution defines water as a local government
42 | P a g e competency. However, the national government retains a role as regulator. Despite the agreed shared functions by various spheres (Pillay, 2009), Galvin and Habib (2003) have found that there is tension in the implementation of decentralisation: some national leaders have expressed their dissatisfaction, arguing that decentralisation undermines their ability to manage development and retain control of its processes and resources (Galvin and Habib, 2003: 866).
However, in response to Tanzi (2001), opponents of decentralisation argue that some services, such as education and healthcare, are better provided for uniformly and there is no evidence that decentralisation is guaranteed to improve service delivery more than centralised state. In addition, Pillay (2009) argues that states do not decentralise because decentralisation has worked before, but because it helps politicians to cope with loss of confidence in the centralised state. In fact, Cleaver et al (2006) caution that increased decentralised decision-making could have a negative effect on the poor as services might not reach them. For instance, decentralisation has been criticised for bringing about corruption at a local level. In addition to the above caution, two further critiques are brought forward. Firstly, decentralisation has been criticised for promoting corruption (Pillay, 2009) and allowing for the exclusion of certain people or groups of people, both resulting in a lack of equality in service provision (Stojkova, 2008). Secondly, and perhaps most interesting for this study, is the critique provided by Galvin and Habib (2003). Despite the state arguing that they support community-centric decentralisation, Galvin and Habib (2003) argue that what is happening in the water sector is, in reality, state-centric rather than community-centric decentralisation. This argument is in line with what is happening in Madibeng in the sense that instead of the municipality serving the people, officials only look out for their interests and do not cater for the needs of the people on the ground.
In addition to the above contentions, it has been difficult to measure progress in decentralised decision-making. When decentralisation was introduced, issues of service delivery (particularly in the water sector) were at their peak and appeared to continue rising because municipalities were expected to do more with so much less (Smith and Green, 2005). However, despite the above critiques, Smith and Green (2005) still believe that decentralisation is the best tool to improve service delivery, mainly because it
43 | P a g e emphasises community-based management. Their assumption is that when governance is brought closer to the people, local issues will be dealt with directly as leaders will not be divorced from residents’ local struggles. Strategies employed will also be relevant for the specific issues in that locality.
2.1.8. Corruption in relation to water governance
Decentralisation of state power and resources, as argued above, is often seen as exacerbating corruption at a local level. In various literature, corruption is used in the same sentence as governance, especially at a local level, mainly because “it is less likely that these governments will create accountable and transparent administrations as they are less sophisticated” (Pillay, 2009: 144). Moreover, as Pillay (2009) highlights, corruption at local government level is perpetuated by the lower salaries earned by officials, who seek ways to generate more income, even if it means going the illegal way. Svensson (2005: 07) defines public corruption as the misuse of public office for personal gain by those in authority. Pillay (2004: 586) highlights corruption as a threat to good governance as it hinders development.
A way to improve water governance is therefore to look at issues of corruption in the way in which water is governed. Addressing water governance does not entail consultations and consensus only, but encompasses dealing with uncertainty, corruption and conflicts (Miranda et al. 2011). Previously, the effects of corruption were overlooked when addressing the issue of water governance in South Africa. However, corruption is now perceived to be a contributing factor in hindering development and service delivery, including water access in most cases. This was deduced after the government and several organisations accepted the existence of corruption in the manner in which water is being governed (UNDP, 2007a). Consequently, corruption is now perceived as the symptom of governance deficits and, ultimately hinders the possibility of improving peoples’ livelihoods (Batchelor, 2003; Shar, 2006: 42). With this change in thinking, anti- corruption measures have been established to ensure equitable and sustainable delivery of water services. It is imperative to note that overcoming corruption is a primary objective of good governance (Batchelor, 2003).
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Corruption undermines the performance and effectiveness of both the public and private sector which ultimately leads to unequal distribution of water services and deterioration of quality in the services being rendered to the people (Batchelor, 2003). This usually happens in instances where officials use public resources that could be used to improve service delivery for their own personal gains. This does not only undermine service delivery to the people but renders existing legislative rules and regulations ineffective, thus intensifying frustrations and fury on the side of service users. Thus consequently resulting in service delivery protests as it was the case in Mothutlung. Previously it was hard to punish officials for their crimes since the system was too rigid and too costly to undergo the entire legalities, but with improved governance, corrupt officials can be brought to account for their crimes (Batchelor, 2003). However, it is important to note that greater accountability does not automatically result from decentralisation, it needs to be promoted through transparency (Pillay, 2009: 147). This means that, in order to hold officials to account for their decisions and actions, the level of transparency ought to be heightened at all levels of governance.
2.2 Invited and invented spaces of participation: exploring alternative ways to explain protest
2.2.1 Conceptualizing popular participation
Following a broad discussion of what is happening in the water sector that may have led to its poor performance over the years, this section seeks to shed light on the interaction between the two spaces of participation: invited and invented spaces. It also attempts to explain how they may or may not lead to a protest action. In order to answer the questions posed in this section, earlier literature will be contrasted with new findings on how residents utilise the two spaces to engage their local municipality. Arguably, these two spaces alone are insufficient to explain the built-up of protests. As such, new perspectives, including expectations that the government will do better, are also drawn into the discussion.
According to Nkunika (1987), participation is understood as the involvement of ordinary citizens in political matters that affects them as the public. Benit-Gbaffou (2015) perceives participation as a tool utilised for social and radical transformation and a way to bring
45 | P a g e communities with a common goal together. Meaningful participation is fundamental for an individual to reach self-determination. Furthermore, it is essential for rectifying historical social inequalities brought about by the way in which society was previously structured under apartheid. For Nkunika (1987), popular participation grants citizens the platform to participate and influence decision-making that affects the people. The above definitions draw much emphasis on political emancipation of ordinary citizens as it heightens their awareness of what is going on around them and grants them the platform to engage with each other on political matters. Ideally, ordinary citizens are afforded platforms to participate and engage in matters that affect them. However, as previously argued, although ordinary citizens are given the opportunity to participate on two levels, the only platform people can use to meaningfully participate is the one that they invented themselves.
The above argument stands the test of time, primarily because invited spaces have proved ineffective and have been criticised for being artificial and disadvantaging ordinary people (see Booysen, 2009). Although these two spaces have historically been instrumental in explaining how the failure of the former triggers utilisation of the latter, which often leads to a protest action, it emerges that this finding is somewhat limited as utilisation of these spaces is contextual. The latter was deduced on the basis that, although invited spaces of participation are often accused of being artificial and seldom lead to transformation, some people continue engaging in them, despite their perceived failure (Benit-Gbaffou, 2015). Therefore, this section will look at the interplay between these spaces and how one informs the other. This will be made possible by contrasting earlier literature on these spaces with more recent emerging literature. Despite the debate at hand, this contrast is fundamental for this dissertation as I argue that none of these spaces exist on their own. As such, they shall be examined as complementary spaces of participation.
2.2.2. Revisiting the two spaces of participation
For Miraftab (2004), participation occurs in two different spaces and each space serves a particular purpose. Invited spaces are defined as “spaces occupied by the grassroots actions and their allied non-governmental organisations that are legitimised by donors
46 | P a g e and government interventions” (Miraftab and Willis, 2005: 195). For example, invited spaces may include meetings and conferences arranged by a municipality and/or government officials, be it at a local, provincial or even at a national level, whereby officials invite ordinary community members to attend and they bring their own agenda for the meeting. In this case, community participation is restricted to what is written in the agenda and discussions are not allowed to go beyond that. Seemingly, the problem with this kind of participation is that, although members participate in the discussion, there is no guarantee that their views will be incorporated at the end of the day. Again, in most cases, ordinary citizens’ complaints are usually beyond what is covered in the agenda. This is often overlooked by officials who may simply seek to pass on their ideas to the people and carry on with existing plans. It is this which often triggers dissatisfaction from ordinary citizens. It is for this reason that I maintain that this form of participation is superficial as citizens are made to feel as though they are participating when they are in fact being managed by the officials with their agendas. The question that might arise, then, is why do people continue engaging in such institutionalised forms of participation, even when it is not working for them? In this case, Booysen (2007) would respond through her blind loyalty theory, arguing that ordinary people carry on being loyal with the hope that things will get better. This blind loyalty perpetuates what Piper (2015: 24) terms “popular incompetence”.
In addition, Miraftab and Willis (2005: 195) speak about invented spaces, which she defines as “spaces occupied by the collective actions of the poor that directly confront the authorities and challenge the status quo”. This type of participation is concerned with changing the status quo by directly confronting the elements or figures that lead to the dissatisfaction of ordinary citizens. This kind of space may include informal meetings, strikes, stay-aways or even protests by ordinary citizens, who gather to discuss their local issues and collectively devise a way forward to put things right. Although this space may serve to bring communities together, for instance working together to discuss their issues, and can also strengthen social cohesion, its outcomes may bring unintended negative implications for the community. This was the case for Mothutlung residents who lost four members of their community as the result of an illegal march.
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Despite the abovementioned reality, there is increasing evidence that a growing number of South African communities favour this form of participation over conventional mechanisms of engaging the state which have proven to yield no desired outcomes. Arguably, communities began incorporating protest in their repertoire of political action mainly because of the evidenced limitation of invited spaces of participation in their quest to attain service delivery (Booysen, 2009: 117). Better yet, this form of participation is traceable back to the struggles against the apartheid state when people rebelled to address their concerns regarding service delivery and to overthrow the oppressive system (Ogundiya, 2010; Swart, 2011 and Pfaffe, 2011).
It is for the same reason that Booysen (2007: 31) concludes that “although voting helps, protesting works”. She reached this conclusion after conducting a study on how people use, what she terms, a “dual-repertoire” of political action that is, voting on the one hand and protesting on the other. She discovered that the latter was increasingly favoured as people have seen that, in some communities, through a snowballing effect, protesting has brought the desired officials’ attention to the protesting community. Most importantly, officials have visited the affected areas and promised them improvements in service delivery (Booysen, 2009). Similar to Booysen’s conclusion, Alexander et al. (2013) discovered that ordinary citizens are prepared to lose everything in an attempt to obtain what they are fighting for, even if it means sacrificing their lives to acquire services. To elaborate on the above point, Selmeczi (2015: 57) notes that protestors tend to hold a strong belief that protest action brings about improvement in their lives due to the pressure they exert through mobilisation. This implies that protesting communities believe that the more they mobilise, the more power they exert on existing structures, and therefore the greater the chances that they will reach their desired outcomes.
Invited and invented spaces have, in the past, been examined in isolation from one another. In a nutshell, there is a tendency for literature to hold these two spaces of participation as taking a linear form. That is, people engage in invited form of participation for some time before moving onto their invented means of participation, such as protests and stay-aways. Drawing from Booysen (2009) on her dual-repertoire model, prior to incorporating protest into this model, ordinary people used to engage in conventional
48 | P a g e forms of participation such as voting and attending meetings which, according to Miraftab and Willis (2005), fall under invited spaces of participation. However, due to the perceived ineffectiveness of invited spaces, people then opt to invent their own spaces enabling them to raise their concerns. It appears that the more recent literature has added to the earlier literature. While earlier literature argues that these spaces of participation occurs in a linear form, emerging literature argues that invented spaces of participation develop from collective awareness through expressed frustration that can lead to mobilisation and less institutionalised forms of participation (Benit-Gbaffou, 2015). That is to say, invented spaces do not just emerge, they emerge from the built-up anger that develops from the failed negotiations through invited spaces of participation. Furthermore, as much as these two spaces complement one another, it is important to note that as much as invited spaces are criticised for being sterile, not all invented spaces are progressive. This debate boils down to the contextual nature of participation: even though some communities believe in the effectiveness of the ripple effect of these spaces, each context is different. As such, suitable methods of participation should be tailored to fit a particular context.
Having discussed two spaces of participation, it is crucial to highlight that although these spaces are usually discussed as separate entities, it is imperative to look at the relationship between the invited and invented spaces of participation instead of talking about them as though they are binary opposites (le Roux, 2014; Sinwell, 2010). Nonetheless, Miraftab (2004, 1) does makes an important distinction between the two as she states that while invited spaces are concerned with providing the poor with coping mechanisms and support, invented spaces exist to challenge the status quo with the hope of changing societal structures and resisting dominant power relations. This kind of analysis by Miraftab (2004) asserts that these two forms of participation complement one another in that each one cannot exist on its own. This is because, exclusive of spontaneous protests, most communities engage in invented spaces of participation as an alternative to invited spaces, due to the failure of the latter to bring about the desired outcomes. The build-up of frustrations in this regard helps to explain the wave of protests in South Africa since 2004, which continues to be on the rise to date.
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2.2.3. Using great expectation and a sense of betrayal to explain protest built-up
The dawn of democracy in 1994 saw the ANC taking over power through winning people’s trust and promising them “a better life for all”. In 1994, people were happy that they had overthrown the oppressive system and were excited to welcome the new state under black leadership. Ideally, people wished for a democratic state which would listen to them, take them seriously and act on their promises. People were expecting to be economically liberated as much as they are politically liberated today. However, reality kicked in a few years down the line when they realised that the government they had voted for was not what they really envisioned as the majority of the people’s livelihoods on the ground remain unchanged (Alexander et al, 2013). This is evident in the fact that, post-1994, there has been a growth of the inequality gap between the rich and the poor, the majority of the people remain in squatter camps and services are delivered at a slower rate, or even in poor quality. Even so, the country’s president, Mr. Jacob Zuma, remains convinced that the raised expectations of the government to deliver more is a result of the successes of the government to deliver services in other areas (quoted on Heese and Allan, 2014).
According to Matlala and Benit-Gbaffou (2015: 56), “the current wave of protest is a reflection of the continuities and raptures with the past struggle”. That is, this wave is a reflection of the expressed sense of disappointment and betrayal by the people on the ground. As it will be argued in this dissertation, people feel disrespected because those they put in power have turned their backs on them. Prior to casting your vote, you are not promised a councillor who will be detached from your community (Booysen, 2007), or that you will endanger your life through fighting for your basic services – you are promised a better life for all. As such, these false promises give people at the grassroots faith in their government and the hope that things will get better with time. However, when that does not materialise, people start feeling disrespected, taken for granted and used as tools for enriching other people. When anger and frustration reach their peak, people see the need to embark on less institutionalised forms of participation: protests.
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2.3. “Service delivery” protests: “A Rebellion of the Poor”?
2.3.1. Conceptualising “rebellion”
This section serves to contextualise sections 2.1 and 2.2, and also broaden the debate further through a framework provided by theorists such as Alexander (2010), Booysen (2007) and Bond (2014). As Koopmans and Rucht (2002) posit, understanding the concept of rebellion is fundamental in understanding its occurrence and patterns. The principal aim of this study is to strengthen an understanding of protest as a form of popular participation through investigating how the disadvantaged rebel against their government, particularly local government, over services that are due to them. According to Boswell and Dixon (1990), rebellion is political violence on a high level whereby the ordinary citizens target their state. Ogundiya (2010) argues that rebellion is merely the symptom of state failure and consequence of an endemic crisis of legitimacy. Moreover, rebellion addresses fundamental issues such as who governs and what is the structure of authority. The term ‘rebellion’ arouses negative connotations and a sense of ungovernability as it is indeed violent and involves direct challenge to authorities (Ogundiya, 2010 and Selmeczi, 2015).
According to Collier and Hoeffler (2004), rebellion occurs when the grievances of the people on the ground are intense enough to motivate people to engage in a violent protest. In order for this to occur, rebellion needs a motive and opportunity. This means that people must be brought together by a common grievance and also be afforded the opportunity to take to the streets as per the Gatherings Act (no 205 of 1993). In South Africa pre-1994, rebellion was known to be triggered by economic crisis which led to the creation of the “poor” class. As it is argued throughout this report, people who tend to rebel are the “desperate classes”, understood as the poor (Swart, 2011).
Alexander and Pfaffe (2011) define the term ‘poor’ as a group of people who are either unemployed, underemployed or not economically active. Pfaffe (2011) is critical of the use of the word ‘poor’ as it creates an imbalance of power between the classes. This means that, the definition of ‘poor’ is in itself biased and marginalises the previously disadvantaged as it denies them an equal level of power compared to their affluent counterparts. Phadi and Manda (2010), in their quest to understand class struggles in the
51 | P a g e townships of Soweto, discovered that the majority of the population in Soweto regarded themselves as poor. To expand on the discovery of Phadi and Manda (2010), Simmel (1971: 157) explains the term ‘poor’ from a sociological point of view. For this author, poor does not mean those who are poorest in terms of income, nor those who suffer deficiencies and deprivations. Simmel (1971) does not tell us what the term ‘poor’ means to him, however, but rather focuses on what does not constitute the poor. It is therefore evident that term ‘poor’ is contextual in that its definition varies from author to author. Simmel’s understanding, for instance, is in contrast with Alexander and Pfaffe’s (2011) economical perspective, although both definitions hold true in their line of discipline.
2.3.2. Unpacking the evolution of the concept of protest
According to Runciman, Maruping and Moloto (2016), protest is a popular mobilisation in support of a collective grievance. That is to say, in order for an incident to be classified as a protest, there must be a group of people mobilised by a single grievance that affects them all. The problem with this definition is that, despite indicating that the group must be brought together by a common grievance, it does not capture the specifics of what would motivate people to take to the streets. Even so, this definition is in line with a definition of social movements by Jelin (1990).
Social movement is a form of collective action with a degree of popular participation which uses non-institutional channels and formulate their demands while simultaneously finding forms of action to express them, thereby establishing themselves as collective subjects that is a group or social category (Jelin 1990 quoted in Escobar and Alvarez 1992: 15).
This dissertation does not dwell on this definition, however, as I believe that not all rebellions lead to the formation of a social movement.
As indicated earlier, the concept of a rebellion of the poor will be used interchangeably with a protest action in this dissertation. Pithouse (2007) understands protest to be primarily concerned with citizenship [of ordinary people] and their right to social inclusion, as well as to be taken seriously when thinking and speaking through community organisations. Despite the fact that protests are concerned with changing policies of
52 | P a g e authority, they are often non-violent and include legal means of action (Jenkins and Schock, 1992).
In respect of the above explanations, the terms rebellion and protest will be used interchangeably throughout the dissertation irrespective of the discrepancies in the element of violence between the two concepts. In addition to these definitions, Pfaffe (2011) stated that protests can be understood using four levels of analysis. The four approaches presented include institutional analysis, political analysis, sociological analysis and anthropological reconstructions. The first approach (institutional analysis) involves analysing protests through linkages of failed government institutions, particularly at a local level. This approach is in line with the second case presented by Alexander (2010) which will be discussed in section 2.3.5 The second approach (political analysis) regards protests as the struggle for “full citizenship”. The third (sociological analysis) is concerned with social composition and social dynamics, as well as the economic policy of the country, and is consistent with the protest definition presented by Pithouse (2007). The fourth approach is anthropological reconstructions.
Over the years, with an increase in the number of protests believed to be over service delivery, there was a tendency for politicians and media to regard these protests as “service delivery” protests. Ndhlovu (2014) states that the term “service delivery protests” evolved mainly because many protests were over provision of services such as water, housing and electricity. However, although these protests over services are widely referred to in the media as “service delivery” protests, an analyst like Pfaffe (2011) argue that this description is excessively narrow, inaccurate and misleading. This notion arises as a result of the acknowledgement that (although they may be intrinsically linked to service delivery) not all protests taking place at the grassroots are over service delivery. Some grievances include corruption, police brutality, crime, unemployment and low wages, as well as poor governance of municipal entities. Alexander (2010: 37) further notes that people do not protest over services all the time as some of their grievances involve protesting against “uncaring, self-serving and corrupt municipal leaders”.
Consequently, a growing number of poor people's movements have insisted that their protests should not be referred to as "service delivery protests” as this does not
53 | P a g e encompass the range of grievances they have raised and the hostility in which the demonstrations take place (Pithouse, 2011; Burns, 2010 and Alexander, 2010). In respect of the above, this paper will adopt the concept of “rebellion of the poor” which was coined by Alexander (2010) following an upsurge in the intense movement of local protests over service delivery beginning in 2004. Several authors, including Atkinson (2007: 54); Booysen (2007: 24) and Pithouse (2007) have also documented this finding in their respective research. In addition, for Booysen (2009), this period is fundamental as it marks the era of the first wave of protests which was two years before the elections of 2006. Owing to the above explanation, throughout this report such protests will be referred to as “community protests” mainly because, in Mothutlung, although it is known via the media that they embarked on a service delivery protest, their main grievances extended beyond service delivery to include alleged corruption and dissatisfaction with their municipality (Alexander et al., 2013).
According to Ogundiya (2010), Africa is a continent that has been characterised by rebellion and violence over the previous decades. This has proven to be true because, as Swart (2011) argues, rebellion has always been a tool used to express dissatisfaction. To emphasise this fact, Swart (2011) notes that the year 1914 saw ordinary men rebelling against their government in order to overthrow the young South African state. As illustrated by Pfaffe (2011), South Africa indeed has a long history of protesting as during the apartheid era, people rose up against racial segregation and oppression. They also protested their poor living conditions (Seekings, 2000). Taking the previous argument further, Alexander and Pfaffe (2011) argue that protests are rooted in the apartheid regime mainly because of the structural planning of townships that displaced people from their working places and suburbs. Arguably, this may also be a contributing factor as to why protests of this nature are prevalent in the townships. The above argument will be expanded further in the section below, concerning the geographical element of protests and the argument that protests are more prevalent in rural areas and poor townships.
Even after the dawn of democracy in 1994, South Africa has been hailed as "the protest capital of the world" as it has the highest rate of public protests in the world which continues to rise to date (Pfaffe, 2011). What is particularly frightening is that this label
54 | P a g e reflects the country’s reality, as protest actions have become normalized in the present- day South Africa with an average of over two crowd management incidents in the mid- 2000s (Selmeczi, 2015). Selmeczi (2015) further argues that many people do not know about this particular status of South Africa as many protestors remain in the roads of forgotten and underdeveloped townships rather than in the open spaces where they will be visible for everyone to see. Pfaffe (2011), Alexander & Pfaffe (2011) and Selmeczi (2015) further explain that these kinds of protests are predominant in the dusty roads of the neglected townships and informal areas rather than in the suburbs.
To explain this discrepancy, Booysen (2007) indicated that services are delivered more effectively in the suburbs than in rural areas, hence there is no need for them to protest. However two years after her initial finding, Booysen (2009) discovered that the first wave of protests which were concerning service delivery affected all of South Africa across its nine provinces and were actually concentrated in the urban and metropolitan areas. With this new discovery, Booysen (2009) contests that protests of this nature are prevalent in urban areas instead, it is second wave protests that are more pronounced in rural areas. This finding may be as a result of a large proportion of people migrating to the cities, thereby making delivery targets more elusive, increasing backlogs and creating uneven delivery (SAIRR, 2007 on Booysen, 2009). On the other hand, the early part of the second wave of protests evidenced in 2007 and characterized by the deepening of dual repertoires stemmed from informal settlements.
According to Tluczek (2012), the rise in service delivery protests indicates the prominence of service delivery issues in South Africa and calls for urgent attention by the state as they result in unrest in different communities. This was echoed by Alexander and Pfaffe (2011) who noted the proliferation of service delivery issues in their research conducted in 2013. Drawing from the findings by Booysen (2009) and Alexander at al. (2013), there seems to be an ongoing increase in protest numbers since 2004. Similarly, Alexander, et al. (2013) argue that there has been a wave of protest action since 2004, with peaks in 2004, 2009 and 2012. This finding echoes the waves alluded to by Booysen (2009), with her analysis only ending in 2008 and the protest actions separated by the election which took place in 2006. As a consequence of this massive outburst, South Africa acquired the
55 | P a g e identity of “a protest nation” (Duncan, 2016). Duncan (2016) devised this when she was writing on and advocating for the right of citizens to protest their dissatisfaction.
Having explored the historical background of protest, it is crucial to highlight that different meanings are attached to protests depending on which side of the equation one is situated. While protesters understand protests to be a tool that they use to raise their voice in order to gain services and recognition from municipal representatives (Booysen, 2007), those that are usually targeted often dismiss protest actions by criminalising them and channelling responsibility elsewhere (Alexander et al., 2013 and Selmeczi, 2015). Therefore, protest is seen as the language of power from below by the protestors (Booysen, 2009). The following section is an outline of trends in protest actions and how they have evolved under different leadership.
2.3.3. Statistical evidence for the increase in local protests
Owing to the fact that South Africa saw an upsurge in political local protests from 2004, Duncan (2009: 4) deduced that “protest action was a significant feature of political life” in South Africa during the administration of the former president, Thabo Mbeki. This argument may hold true because local protests escalated in 2004, two years into Mbeki’s administration. However, drawing from the Municipal IQ data, Alexander (2010) sheds new light onto the matter as he argues that seven months into President Zuma’s administration saw the highest number of service delivery protests when compared to the last three years of former President Mbeki’s time in office. According to Runciman et al, (2016), community protests have doubled since the year 2010 as they now amount to 96 percent of all protests. In the period between 1997 and 2013, community protests were the second highest category (22.1 percent) after labour protests which stood at 46.0 percent (Runciman et al., 2016). Arguably, even though South Africa’s protest rate has not exceeded that of Egypt and other countries, the former continues to have one of the highest levels of protest per capita in the world, much of which takes the form of local uprisings (Alexander et al, 2013).
According to Vally (2009) in Alexander, (2010), North West was the first province (followed by Northern Cape) to maintain its growing number of protests in each year since
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2004/2005 to 2007/2008 when other provinces are actually decreasing. North West is the province with the third highest number of protests after Gauteng and Kwa-Zulu Natal. The year 2005/2006 was a period which saw the peak in the number of protests after the alarming rise of 2004. However, there was a decline in the year 2007-2008. For Alexander (2010), the year 2009 saw a steady increase in the number of community protests, followed by a significant upsurge in 2012. To date, these scholars believe that 2012 is the year which saw these protests reaching their peak and more studies are underway by Alexander and the team as they continue monitoring protest action across the country.
2.3.4. Forms of protests
In his preliminary report “Rebellion of the Poor”, Alexander (2010) recorded 156 230 crowd incidents from 1997 to 2003 which ranged from peaceful, disruptive to violent. Alexander (2010) together with Runciman et al. (2016) make a distinction between the three forms of protests mentioned above. They defined peaceful protest as a kind of a protest in which citizens peacefully march to the target in order to deliver their message. Peaceful protests were initially known as “orderly protests” (Runciman et al, 2016). These kinds of protests usually involve people drafting and marching to deliver their memorandum to the target which is often the municipality or the councillor. With this form of protest, there are no disruptions or injuries to persons or even property (Runciman et al, 2016). Disruptive protest entails disruption of daily functioning of a particular community. These kinds of protests are identified through the use of tactics such as road barricades using burning tyres, disruption of schools and inhibiting workers from going to work (Runciman et al, 2016). Similar to peaceful protest, disruptive protest does not involve injury to persons or property. For instance, when community members embark on a disruptive protest, they usually barricade the road with burning tyres which ultimately prevents workers from going to work and students from going to school. Disruptive protest only serves to disrupt the normal functioning of daily activities. Lastly, violent protest involves harming your targets either physically or verbally. This includes damaging property (Runciman et al, 2016), such as burning the house or car of a councillor, as well as vandalising property and looting. Although these researchers make a clear distinction between these forms of protests, it should be noted that the protestors usually confuse
57 | P a g e these three, as is the case with the protesting community of Mothutlung. Having outlined the emergence and evolution of protests, distinguishing between its various forms, it is fundamental to grapple with some of the reasons that push people to take to the streets. This is dealt with in the following section.
2.3.5. Arguments for, and reasons why people protest
While Alexander (2010) looks at different forms of protest and reasons as to why people protest, Bond (2014) looks at the type of protest and their durability. According to Booysen (2007) and Alexander (2010), Bond (2014) argues that the recent rise in community protests across South Africa confirms the country’s existing social, economic and environmental contradictions. Furthermore, he states that if protestors lack a political strategy, their protest action will equate to merely unconnected and isolated incidents of protest, popping up and quickly falling back again. He coined the term “popcorn protests” to indicate that they tend to run out of steam or dissolve because they have no connection to a broader strategy, hence some people use them for their own political agendas. Although there is some truth to Bond’s argument that some opportunists may use protest action to push their own political agenda, it does not necessarily mean that these protests will automatically run out of steam. Furthermore, as Booysen (2007; 2009) has argued, protests do not just emerge but arise from built-up anger and frustration with lack of service delivery and representation. As such, there is no such thing as popcorn protest but a group of people gathered together with no collective goal, hence this gathering is likely to run out within the blink of an eye. To assume that this kind of gathering is a popcorn protest is rather too simplistic in the sense that it overlooks the dynamics involved in protest action such as the motive bringing people together and also assumes that, in all gatherings that collapse soon after being formed, there were opportunists who caused the collapse.
For Alexander (2010), these protests are “locally-organised protests” which target people who hold political power such as municipal managers and councillors. As mentioned earlier, Booysen (2009) holds that protest action develops from a built-up anger with service delivery and representation, despite the dawn of democracy 23 years ago in South Africa. Moreover, she (2007) talks about how local people struggle to raise their
58 | P a g e voices for service delivery due to the power that authorities have over them, from local municipalities to national task teams and presidential think-tanks. Similarly, Alexander et al. (2013) argue that, previously, ordinary people were marginalised and stigmatised with little or no means to make their grievances meaningfully heard.
Booysen’s (2007) opening argument is that South Africa as a democratic country should emancipate people to express their needs through choosing the party of their choice. With her “twin-track bottom-up assessment” and/or “dual-action repertoires”, she explores the extent to which voting and protests can be used equally as mechanisms to attain improved levels of service delivery. She further argues that dual repertoires perpetuate loyalty to the leading party – in this case, the ANC. Moreover, she talks about how people have shifted from blind loyalty to critical loyalty in the sense that they do not confront their government but simply use dual repertoires to remind their government to serve them as they promised. However, it is crucial to note that even though South Africa is a multiparty state, this dissatisfaction is not met with the electorate shifting to opposition parties but a shift to a more confrontational form of loyalty. This shows just how much people are loyal to their party in that they would rather vote and protest against it than to vote for an opposition party. She maintains that these repertoires help in understanding or even answering the question of whether frustrations and disappointments over the pace of change (service delivery) post-1994 could override popular allegiance to the ANC (Booysen, 2009: 104).
Prior to the elections of 2006, protesting was seen as an opportunistic tool used to target local government while, in actual fact, the problem was with both the provincial and national government (Booysen, 2009). It was believed that this form of attack would improve the effectiveness of local governments. After the elections, there was an evidenced increase in the protest element of the repertoires due to local frustrations over government performance (Booysen, 2009: 104). In a multiparty country like South Africa, one would expect that people would be flexible enough to move in between parties or even boycott elections if they are dissatisfied with the party they currently support. The logic behind her repertoires is that people can hold their leaders accountable through voting for leadership of their choice and if dissatisfied, protest against it to merely remind
59 | P a g e them of the promises they have made to them. For Piper (2015) on Benit-Gbaffou (2015: 25), ordinary people see votes as primarily about party identification and loyalty.
Booysen’s primary argument is that people do not resort to this critical form of loyalty to challenge or oppose their leading party but to express their dissatisfactions with it (ANC) by using “bricks” (protests). Although this shift shows that citizens are no longer passive recipients of services but have become critical of the party they are loyal to; their loyalty remains intact towards the ANC. As highlighted above, Booysen (2007) introduced her double-action model of the “ballot and the brick”, which involves voting on the one hand and protesting on the other. This model indicates that people use the two routes in conjunction with each other; they vote for the leadership they want and use protest to force the leadership to deliver on its promises. Booysen (2007) further highlights that protests are usually a last resort when all channels of communicating dissatisfaction, such as negotiations and meetings, have been exhausted. It is for this reason that Booysen (2009: 134) perceives protests to be the language of power.
Alexander (2010) prefers to use the term “community protests” because, although the outcry is usually over services, these protests are about more than services. As Booysen (2009, 104-105) argues, these protests move beyond the specifics of service delivery to include other grievances about local and other levels of representation. She suggests that the community protest wave is a way for frustrated residents to express their dissatisfaction with their municipalities over services; that is, protesters use protests to challenge their government to change the way they do things (Alexander, 2010). On the other hand, Booysen (2009, 113) maintains that protests were initially used to spark the attention of government and to raise awareness of local challenges, including service delivery. Owing to the high rate in which service delivery protests are growing, he uses his concept of “rebellion of the poor” to explain why people protest. Alexander (2010) believes that protesting is a way the poor majority expresses their discontent by taking to the street and challenging their government and existing power structures. Residents express their anger and frustration with their government over broken promises and lack of meaningful response by protesting on the streets. Of importance is the argument that people protest over the quality of their democracy, as, in general sense, people tend to
60 | P a g e define democracy through the level and quality of services they receive from the government. If it is sufficient to measure the quality of democracy through the level of service delivery, it is then undeniable that people protest because they receive poor quality democracy on the ground compared to the quality of democracy received by those in power.
Moreover, Alexander (2010) argues that the root cause of protests lies in the perceived and real growing inequalities between ANC leaders and their electorate. This is to say, people protest because the ANC government does not deliver on its promises, or at least not enough. Booysen (2007) maintains that statistics for roll-out of services tend to demonstrate an improvement in service delivery from 1994 when the country gained its democracy, however, at grassroots level, this mirrors the realities of unequal and insufficient delivery. According to Alexander (2010), protests reflect disappointments with democracy as it has benefitted a few and disadvantaged and marginalised the majority. For Booysen (2009: 106), protests may reflect more than anything else the disappointments pertaining to the delivery of services and their quality. In this case, Ogundiya (2010) believes that democracy in Africa has been ineffective, mainly because it was artificially imposed on the people. Kekic (2014) perceives this erosion of trust in government and institutions as a “crisis in democracy”.
Booysen (2009, 128) argues that, even though ‘service delivery protests’ remain “grassroots” action, primary triggers were increasingly national responsibilities including housing, land and jobs. This implies that local government is often attacked for the shortcomings of provincial and national governments. Alexander (2010) makes two strong cases as to what actually triggers protest: The first one is in line with the argument presented by Booysen (2007) on the first wave of protests. It includes poor municipal services such as roads, houses and dirty water supply. The second case is concerned with unresponsive local government or inadequate local administration which encompasses issues such as nepotism, lack of transparency and uncaring leadership. The second case is also in line with on Booysen’s (2007) argument of detached leadership, through which she argues that, oftentimes, the local government is unresponsive to the people because they have absent leadership. It is on the second
61 | P a g e case that the issue of poor governance becomes even more pronounced, and until structures of governance change, the situation is likely to remain unchanged if not change for the worst (Alexander, 2010; Ogundiya, 2010; Booysen, 2009 and Kekic, 2014).
Similar to Alexander (2010), Booysen (2007) believes that the primary factor driving people to protest is dissatisfaction with social conditions and the feeling of being alienated from the institutions of local democracy. Moreover, Booysen (2007) argues that the inability of municipalities to deliver meaningful services to local communities’ as promised is amongst the reasons that contribute to local community protest outbreaks. Parallel to Booysen (2007) and Alexander (2010) is Algotsson and Murombo (2009) who argue that the communities affected by poor service delivery tend to blame lack of service delivery on municipality mismanagement and corruption. This trend was evident to the ANC’s opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), who hold the ANC accountable for its mismanagement of municipalities and its inability to achieve meaningful service delivery. I therefore support the above assertion based on the premise that decentralisation of responsibilities to municipalities does not guarantee effective delivery of services since those municipalities are seldom monitored by the central government.
Just as the argument has been made by Alexander (2010), Booysen (2007) and Algotsson and Murombo (2009), Lancaster (2016) maintains that discontent with the level of municipal service delivery, including running water and sanitation access, is amongst the major reasons behind the mushrooming of service delivery protests in South Africa. “Citizens are angered by the discrepancies in the level of water services they receive on the ground compared to the level of services they expect and aspire to, and are promised by government officials on their election campaigns” (Lancaster, 2016: 5). The notion of “relative deprivation” by Gurr (1970) best explains the above scenario. Having explored these avenues, it is also important to consider the argument by Dudley and Miller (1998) who hold that, any kind of deprivation alone is insufficient to lead to rebellion. These researchers maintain that state responses to communal grievances carry much weight. In contrast, Heese and Allan (2014) quote South African President Jacob Zuma (n.d) arguing that “success is also a breeding ground of raising expectations”. This means that not only government’s failure to deliver services motivates for protest eruptions, but the
62 | P a g e ability of the government to deliver to a certain extent also makes ordinary people expect the government to deliver better than they are doing currently.
Booysen (2007) is of the view that factors that intensify protest action include absenteeism of the local councillor and failure to communicate to communities who the relevant contacts points are for raising specific issues. The councillor tends to neglect the needs of the people since he is divorced from the issues emerging on the ground. The ripple effect also exacerbates protest because, if, for example, community A sees that protest action worked for community B, then community A is highly likely to engage in a protest hoping for similar outcomes as community B. Atkinson (2007) does not disagree with the argument that people protest against lack of service provision, but her analysis delves deeper to argue that our focus should be channelled on maintenance and management of existing services. She argues that emphasis should be placed on technical issues and skills development. Going further, she cautions against those municipal officials who are corrupt, although not in criminal sense but engage in several actions of self-enrichment at the expense of ordinary citizens. She cautioned that communities must look out for those councillors who seek to serve party interests over that of the community.
In Pithouse’s (2007) perspective, ordinary people may take to the streets because they feel disrespected as state officials keep feeding them with lies during campaigns but fail to listen to them at other times. In some cases, people may feel disrespected by being manipulated or forced to belong to a certain party in order to be listened to (Pithouse, 2007; Swart, 2011). The Centre for Development and Environment report (CDE) (2007: 54) expands on this further by stating that “there is a tendency for national government department to, instead of fixing the situation fairly, they move the individual targeted by protestors to an equal or even better post elsewhere while living conditions of the protestors are left unchanged”. This was the case with the former councillor of Mothutlung who has since been moved to a district municipality after being removed as a local councillor. Pfaffe (2011) contends that another form of disrespect which also triggers protest eruptions is the government’s slow response, in conjunction with the failure of officials to attend community meetings.
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Another motivation for protesting may be that residents are willing to lose something in order to get the government to address their grievances, hence the increase in disruptive and violent protests since 2009, as noted by Alexander et al (2013). For example, although protesting residents are aware that they are compromising their lives by protesting, they still go and protest anyway. Nevertheless, this should not be seen as ignorance or taking life for granted; anger and fury drive residents into revolting. In contrast, Booysen (2007) perceives this trend as related to the breakaway of the poor majority from a blind loyalty to their government to a critical form of loyalty. Although this may seem ironic, the protest action by the people does not mean that people are fighting their state but merely reminding the government to serve them as they promised. Drawing from this argument, it may be that Booysen does not believe that people protest with the thought that they are endangering their lives, but with the hope that the party they are loyal to will hear them and act accordingly. She further argues that loyalty ought to be understood from a political point of view, and defines being loyal as “trusting in the party” of your choice to make good decisions and policies that will work for everyone. It is important to note that although the concepts of voting and protesting run throughout her work, Booysen (2007) maintains that there is no causal relationship between voting and protesting and, again, neither one diminishes the other. In the same breath, this dissertation is not concerned with how the two concepts relate but to understand how people use protest as a form of participation.
2.3.6. Features of a protest
According to Alexander et al. (2013) community protests differ in size which range from under 100 to over 10 000. However, these protests have similarities in terms of contention, where they occur, how they are organised, and their demographics. Very often when you pass by a particular township where a protest has occurred, you are likely to see roads blocked and smoke flying up in the sky. These particular features propelled von Holdt, Langa, Molapo, Mogapi, Ngubeni, Dlamini and Kirsten (2011) to entitle an article: “The smoke that calls”. As such, Alexander et al. (2013) argue that these protests have an emblematic form, characterised by construction of road blockades using rubble or burning particles such as tyres or even waste. In most cases, methods that are used
64 | P a g e alongside the abovementioned include (but are not limited to) street procession, looting, marches, delivery of memorandums, school disruptions and attacks on property. Some of these protests lasts for days, or even less. In most cases, these protests last for only three days (Alexander and Pfaffe, 2011), but a few last for weeks and even months. These protests can be peaceful, disruptive and even violent. Police respond differently to these different kinds of protests. Oftentimes, police action escalates confrontation and tensions, hence some protests move from being peaceful to violent (von Holdt et al., 2011: 2). As a result, any form of protest may result in unintended consequences such as arrests, injury or even the death of protestors.
Although these protests affect both rural and urban areas, they are more prevalent in populations living in townships and informal settlements. Furthermore, they are more pronounced among the black, coloured and Indian population than in the white suburbs. In many occasions, youth of all genders have taken to the forefront of protests. Alexander and Pfaffe (2011) argue that the reason for this might be that “youth have ample time to organise and have the ability to mobilise the community as they are capable to win backing as well as unseat politicians and undermine the legitimacy of established politics”. For Alexander et al. (2013), even though protests sometimes spread to neighbouring villages/townships, they maintain that protests are often localised. The same case was made by Alexander and Pfaffe (2011, 205) when they argued that “community protests have been localised both in their scope and limited in duration”.
2.3.7. Targets of protestors
Often protestors target the state, particularly local government, even for competencies belonging to Provincial and national government such as housing. This is because they feel alienated from the activities taking place in the government. As Collier and Hoeffler (2004) put it, people feel detached from their government mainly because, although they may have a say in choosing their government, they certainly have no say in the actions their government is taking. Alexander et al. (2013) echoes the findings presented by the above researchers that, usually, the targets of protestors are councillors, mayors and local municipality officials. On some occasions, provincial and national political leaders are involved. Moreover, Ngwane, in Alexander et al. (2013), iterates that people target
65 | P a g e the aforementioned because ordinary people tend to get frustrated by the fact that, once they put these officials in power, they cannot remove them irrespective of how dissatisfied they are with them. Perhaps the best scenario to exemplify this argument is in the amount of protest we evidenced in the years 2016 and 2017, whereby we saw eight attempts to remove President Jacob Zuma from power, including a secret vote for a motion of no confidence in the president. This demonstrates that it is simple to put leadership into power but once you are dissatisfied with their services, it is hard to remove them from power. Again, oftentimes clashes with police are common because the police are caught between doing their job of dispersing the crowd as deployed by authority and negotiating better ways with protestors to avoid unintended outcomes (Pfaffe, 2011; von Hold, 2011). Pfaffe (2011) argues that the ANC tends to rely on the policy of “deployment” when dealing with protests, allowing them to deploy leadership and police to silence the protestors (Pfaffe, 2011).
2.3.8. Protest methods
According to Alexander (2010), the form of action people use to raise their concerns determines the kind of people involved in a protest and the kind of issues they raise. However, I do not think this is the case. Based on what I learnt from Mothutlung residents, I believe that the methods which people decide to employ when protesting depend on the level of frustration people have had to endure. For instance, as Booysen (2007) would argue, the community will be hopeful that things will change and thus keep on attending community meetings and engaging their municipal officials. But for the fact that their grievance fall on deaf ears, they will take the second step of a drafting memorandum of grievances and march to deliver it to the relevant people (Alexander et al. 2013). If the situation remains unchanged and their frustrations pile up, they will then start getting disruptive and blocking roads with burning tyres. If their problems persist, only then they will start getting violent.
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2.3.9. Conclusion
From this review, it is apparent that although South Africans celebrate 23 years into democracy, many areas, particularly those in the rural areas are still deprived of their right to access water, even though the government has taken steps to ensure the realisation of this right. This deprivation is further perpetuated by the inequalities that are evident in the water sector which ultimately result in service delivery protests by those who are excluded, as was the case in Mothutlung. In essence, the inequalities evident in the water sector can also be used as a tool to divide those who are economically able and those who cannot afford these services. This chapter highlighted the importance of noting that current inequalities are a consequence of the apartheid era which used to separate people into their respective races. As such, in order to understand and curb these inequalities, a thorough investigation into these historical inequalities is essential. This sheds light onto how certain groups have historically been deprived of their basic human rights and culminates in service delivery protests. It is also fundamental to note that, despite a great deal of major contributions that have helped scholars to understand these service delivery protests, these analyses tend to be placed within a vacuum that does not to confront, in an in-depth way, the historical processes, dating back several decades or more in some communities, that have given rise to such protests. As such, this dissertation seeks to address these gaps in literature.
This chapter was divided into three sections, in which the author illustrated how the issues experienced in the water sector are exacerbated not only by the status of water scarcity but by poor governance as well. This, has ultimately, translated into frustrations on the part of residents and thus the mushrooming of service delivery protests in South Africa. The opening of the chapter set out some conceptualisations of key terms in the water sector. The first section outlined the situation of water in South Africa while making some distinctions with other countries. The legislative framework underpinning the water sector and the concept of water governance was also dealt with. The second section dealt solely with explaining the build-up of protest. It drew on the notion of invited and invented spaces of participation to explain protest development and the interplay between the two. Moreover, alternatives to protest build-up were delineated in this section. Finally, the third
67 | P a g e section explored the evolution of the concept of protest, particularly looking at its historical development and how it has continued to shape ordinary people’s struggles over services to date.
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Chapter three Research Methodology
3.1. Introduction
Some studies are best conducted using quantitative data research methods, partially because they can have a greater reach of respondents and a representative sample. For this study I opted for qualitative methods, mainly because of the nature of my study and the anticipated outcomes. The aim of this research is to investigate the links between participatory local governance and popular protests. This research explores the historical processes beginning in 1972 when Mothutlung was established. In the process of this investigation, the engagements between Mothutlung residents and their municipality pre- and post-apartheid were explored, as well as how some of the failed engagements led to service delivery protests by the residents. A quantitative research method would not allow an in-depth investigation of this matter as my study requires qualitative depth. The aim of this research was met through answering the research question together with sub questions that were outlined in chapter one, using the methods and tools presented in this chapter.
This chapter begins by delineating the research design that was adopted together with its methodology. Subsequently, a brief description of Mothutlung is outlined to help the reader grasp the sense of the research area, followed by a sampling profile of the participants. Furthermore, this chapter discusses how participants were selected, the procedures followed in the field, including data collection methods and instruments to simplify data collection, as well as how findings were analysed. Later on, efforts to ensure credibility, together with boundaries of the study, are presented. Moreover, ethics considered throughout the study are demarcated. In closing, a brief summary of key ideas is outlined.
3.2. Research design and methodology
According to Mandlelize (2013), a research design refers to the strategy which is used to collect information with an intent to answer well-defined research questions and it is
69 | P a g e dependent on the aims and objectives of the study (Bobbie & Mouton, 2011). This study is underpinned by a phenomenological paradigm which studies the world based on the perspectives of the people being studied (Bobbie & Mouton, 2011). Fasse and Kolodner (2013), like Bobbie & Mouton (2001), maintains that phenomenology in research is the identification of a phenomenon through the lens of the actors involved in the situation under study. This kind of study is significant to help the researcher understand the world of the participants according to how the participants explain it, thus attempting to present their views without any alterations (Cicourel, 1964). In the case of Mothutlung, residents were not being studied as objects of the study; they were basically involved in the study of a phenomena that impacts their lives on daily basis. This implies that these residents were only involved in the study as voluntary participants to provide insights into the challenges they encounter with water access and what processes they engage in in order to address these challenges. Information reported by the participants was presented as they reported it, with guidance from the questions asked. This assisted me to understand the situation of the people on the ground from their own point of view. Therefore, this study is phenomenological in nature.
This phenomenological study adopted a qualitative approach which is interpretive and descriptive in nature (Babbie & Mouton, 2001; and Fasse and Kolodner, 2013). According to Janesick (2000) and Strauss and Corbin (1990), a qualitative research approach enables the researcher to probe for rich, in-depth and subjective viewpoints of participants regarding a particular phenomenon. In the case of this dissertation, this method allowed me to probe deeper than newspaper reports are able to without putting any participant at risk. It enabled me to interact with the participants while trying to get to the root cause of the problem and how it has always been addressed by both municipal officials and residents. This was done through interviewing both the residents and a municipal official who manages the water sector of the municipality so as to facilitate my understanding of the background of the water sector of Madibeng municipality. In essence, the interviews conducted helped the researcher to have an understanding of the challenges being faced by residents pertaining to water on daily basis.
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Although this approach is useful for this study, it only allows for selection of a relatively small sample due to time, and, at times, fiscal constraints. As such, it did not allow the research to be generalised to the broader population. Although these constraints were not a threat to the study, they were nevertheless limitations. For instance, as the study only looked at one area, which is Mothutlung, it is impossible to generalise its findings to other areas such as Dammonsville, Jericho, Majakaneng and Mmakau, even though these townships are faced with similar challenges pertaining to water interruptions. Inferences can only be drawn to municipalities like Nkomazi amongst others which are similar to Madibeng, rather than to use the findings to generalise to the broader population. Within Nkomazi municipality in Mpumalanga, people have water struggles similar to Madibeng and the municipality responded with temporary measures similar to that of Madibeng, such as tankering.
Mothutlung was established in 1972 under the Bophuthatswana government of the late Mr Lucas Mangope. This township was established from relocating people from Mmakau as it was believed that they were too close to Brits town. During this period, people received proper service delivery and their only concerns were racial segregation and oppression from their government. As a result, people showed jubilance after the overthrow of this oppressive system in 1994 as they had anticipated better treatment and service delivery from the black government. However, their expectations were met with disappointments as they still find themselves burdened by little to no services at all. Given that little has been documented about the history and development of Mothutlung, I had to interview elders from Mothutlung to understand how the area was developed and why some of the events occurred in the way they did. In essence, the majority of the youth that was interviewed had knowledge about the events of 1994, hence it was vital to incorporate their views.
Although dissatisfaction with water access within Madibeng municipality began in 2001, particular focus will be given to the period beginning in 2012 to date. This period is significant mainly because 2012 saw a rise in protests over services across South Africa (Alexander et al, 2013 and Duncan, 2014). As such this study seeks to explore trends in
71 | P a g e the events that unfolded in Mothutlung, before and after the protest as well as the changes that are still happening in the area following an upsurge of water protests in Madibeng beginning in 2014. This in-depth approach will help shed light on individual experiences as well as views on water-related protests in Mothutlung. 3.3. Sampling profile
For the purpose of this study, a total of 18 participants were interviewed from Mothutlung Township. All these participants come from ward 21. The sample comprised of eleven males and seven females aged between 22 and 83 years old. One municipal official and a local councillor as well as local residents were interviewed. From the sample, heads from the three grieving families were interviewed. For protection of participants’ identity, I used (*) to indicate that pseudonyms have been used to conceal participants’ real names. I made three visits to Mothutlung for the purpose of fieldwork. The first visit was from the 1st November to the 23rd November 2016. The second visit was in January 2017 when I intended to attend commemoration day which is meant for celebrating the lives of the heroes who died during the protest. The final visit was on the 14th July 2017. A table below provides a breakdown of my sample profile.
Name Age Gender Date of the interview
1. Osiame 24 Male 21st Nov 2016 at 15:00
2. Thabang 27 Male 22nd Nov 2016 at 15:45; 14th July 2017 at 15:10
3. Johannah 83 Female 23rd Nov 2016 at 11:36
4. Johannes 77 Male 14 July 2017 at 16:40
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5. Meikie 43 Female 22nd Nov 2016 at 14:00; 14th July 2017 at 9:30
6. Suzie 63 Female 22nd Nov 2016 at 12:16
7. Pogiso 38 Male 23rd Nov 2016 at 10:11; 14th July 2017 at 13:00
8. Masego 76 Female 23rd Nov 2016 at 12:03
9. Kgopotso 46 Male 22nd Nov 2016 at 11:00; 14th July 2017 at 15:12
10. Tshenolo 22 Male 23rd Nov 2016 at 10:11
11. Orapeleng 23 Male 23rd Nov 2016 at 09:28
12. Pontsho 31 Male 21st Nov 2016 at 14:12; July 2017 at 12:00
13. Ipelegeng 34 Female 23rd Nov 2017 at 16:32
14. Ditebogo 36 Male 21st Nov 2016 at 16:30
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15. Michael 27 Male 22nd Nov 2016 at 09:16
16. Molefe 24 Male 14th July 2017 at 14:00
17. Sylvia 72 Female 14 July 2017 at 17:00
18. Kelebogile 53 Female 14 July 2017 at 11:14
3.4. Sampling and recruitment
Bryman (2008) defines sampling as the act of or technique of selecting a suitable sample which is more or less likely believed to be representative of the entire population. Since sampling is a process, it gives the researcher authority to make decisions about who to include and who to exclude in the data collection process. Moreover, sampling is useful and efficient as it allows the researcher to draw conclusions about the population by merely studying a portion of the population. It is crucial to note that although sampling may be effective, it is associated with some dangers including inaccuracy and sometimes unreliability (Bryman, 2008). This is to say, even though the researcher may make certain inferences by merely selecting a certain proportion of the population, this process also has its downfalls. For instance, the researcher can only make conclusions to a certain extent as it is known that the smaller the sample, the more impossible it is to generalise to a larger population. In the case of Mothutlung, a total sample of eighteen participants was selected to participate in the study using a snowball sampling method.
Snowballing, which is also known as chain sampling, helps the researcher identify participants from people who know appropriate people who may possess important information concerning the study at hand (Bryman, 2008). It is called referral because the researcher will identify participants who will later refer her to other people with sufficient knowledge about a particular phenomenon which is of interest to the researcher.
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Biernacki and Waldorf (1981) go further to indicate that snowballing is particularly significant in situations where a standard sampling approach is either impossible or prohibitively expensive to be utilised. For the above authors, snowball sampling is fundamental in situations whereby commonly preferred sampling methods, such as simple random sampling and quota sampling, are difficult to apply. For instance, this could be a situation where the relevant population is hard to access or the research topic is sensitive and requires a certain population that possess appropriate insight required for that particular research. However Harrell and Bradley (2009) note that, although snowballing is significant for assisting the researcher to get a complete sample of participants through referrals, they caution that this sampling method may lead to overrepresentation of a single network group as participants keep referring you to who they know might be suitable to participate. Snowball sampling is criticised for the possibility of lack of validity and credibility thus leading to the study being one sided as there is a high possibility of the participants referring the researcher to people they know and with whom they share similar sentiments on a particular phenomenon (Harrell and Bradley, 2009). Even so, this study applied snowball sampling based on the basis provided below. In order to ensure the authenticity of the reported findings, the same questions were posed to various participants to elicit different responses for a similar question.
For the purpose of this study, snowballing was preferred mainly because protests are known to be a delicate subject, especially if lives were lost in the process and the community is still grieving. A protest in Mothutlung occurred in January 2014, and people initially feared to openly talk about the incident, especially to strangers. During interviews, some residents would ask if I was a journalist from SABC when I introduced myself as a student from the University of Johannesburg. They associated me with media mainly because they have seen numerous journalists visiting their area and going around asking questions after the protest incident. Moreover, although the protest occurred three years ago, the community is still mourning the loss of their community members, thus finding it hard to express their experiences and to openly talk about what transpired in their community during that time. Therefore, referrals from one participant to another was fundamental in assisting with acquiring a sample of 14 on my initial visit. Initially, I had
75 | P a g e planned to interview a total of 20 people. However, a few factors explained below stood in the way.
First and foremost, there were a limited number of people I could interview. There were only so many leaders and a few people who had significant insight with regards to the protest. For instance, most of the participants indicated that although they were part of the protest, some of them did not reach Dammonsville crossing where the shootings occurred and all they could help with was provide information on what happened in Mothutlung concerning water interruptions and the protest. From what I gathered during the interviews, there is some sense of intimidation amongst the people whereby those that agreed to be interviewed only agreed to participate after I explained to them about the ethics and how I will protect their identity. One respondent even went to the extent of explaining that people who disclose such information disappear from the community if they catch them talking about the business of the community. Moreover, residents reported that it is dangerous to talk about what is happening because they will be made to feel like they spy on their municipality and nobody wants to be held responsible for disseminating such sensitive information. There is a clear lack of trust to strangers as media has been going in and out of the community. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I realised that people are still sensitive about what happened in their area as they are still grieving the loss of their community members. Continuing with the interviews would therefore have been insensitive to the community and I would be rubbing salt on an open wound. As the ethics of research is concerned, carrying on with the interviews would be taking advantage of the grieving community for my own benefit.
Upon realising that the majority of the community was still grieving, I consulted with the community leader and decided to pause the interviews and only attend the commemoration day on 15th of January 2017. Indeed, I went back to Mothutlung as arranged but no commemoration took place, the reason being that there were not enough funds for it to take place and, consequently, families of the deceased were asked to hold small prayer sessions with close friends and relatives, as well as neighbours, in their homes as a way of commemorating their loved ones. An interviewed community leader reported that these families did as requested I had the opportunity to join only the Rahube
76 | P a g e family the following day so they could share how the prayer session proceeded. This family reported that they had a braai the previous day right after holding a prayer as a family. The situation had improved on this visit, therefore another round of interviews commenced soon after that. It is perhaps important to highlight that three visits were made to Mothutlung, in November 2016, January 2017 and July 2017.
Since this study is part of a larger project being undertaken by my supervisor, Professor Mary Galvin, who is investigating water governance across various regions in the country, two research assistants were employed to assist with fast-tracking the process and effectiveness of fieldwork as well as to guide me wherever possible. The initial visit was made by the research assistants to check out the place, and make a few contacts. This helped in creating a rapport with the community members who later welcomed us in their small community with open arms. Bernard (1994) notes that building rapport requires that the researcher acts and behaves in a way which will enable her to blend into the community under study. However, the researcher ought to remain as objective as possible in order to both understand what is going on and be able to write about it, thus avoiding going nativev (Kawulich, 2005). This exercise will allow the community members to continue acting as naturally as possible yet allowing the researcher to engage with participants. On the second visit, Prof Galvin and I joined the two research assistants working with her project to write a book on her comparative study described below. On this visit, we were introduced to some members who we later interviewed. From describing our study and its objectives, referrals were made by respondents. Again, we had the opportunity to attend a community meeting which was set to discuss the Integrated Development Planvi (IDP). It was evident from this experience that snowball sampling requires a high level of interaction with participants and trust in order to be referred from one person to the next.
On the second round of fieldwork, a total of four people were interviewed, including elders who assisted with insight into the long history of the development of Mothutlung. The purpose of this visit was to gather more information on the history of Mothutlung from the elders who were previously interviewed since there is relatively little available documentation on the history of Mothutlung. These elders were referred by the
77 | P a g e community leader on the basis that he is confident that they were the relevant people to talk to as he works closely with them as part of the local executive committee. The purpose of the last visit was to do follow-ups on some of the interviews that raised more questions than answers. All in all, a total of 18 participants were interviewed for this research project instead of the proposed 20 due to the reasons outlined above. After the first two visits, I managed to conduct the interviews alone and with no hiccups. What is more, I also attended a youth workshop on how to start an agribusiness and how to obtain funding from the department of agriculture, which was also useful for this research. This interaction with youth from Mothutlung was fundamental in observing how Mothutlung engage with one another and with officials who were not targeted in the protest of 2014. This enabled me to deduce that indeed Mothutlung is a peaceful place which promotes information sharing.
3.5. Data collection methods
As Maseko (2017) has pointed out, the researcher will have this seemingly flawless image of “this is what I am going to do at the field and this is how I am going to solve problems that may arise”. However, the process is never smooth-sailing as is always imagined. Fieldwork requires dedication and courage, otherwise you will be miserable in the field and everything will be all over the place. With proper guidance from the research assistants, my fieldwork was a success and I obtained relevant information by simply employing the data collection methods outlined below.
3.5.1. Semi-structured interviews and observation
At the heart of the data collection methods were semi-structured interviews and observation. The former was preferred because it enabled the researcher flexibility when conducting interviews (Bryman, 2004: 321) and allowed me to establish relationships with participants. This implies that, even though I had an interview schedule, I left room for exploring other avenues that arose while having a conversation with the participant. A list of questions drafted prior to fieldwork only served as guidelines of the themes to be covered, rather than a rigid set of questions that could not be exceeded. According to Bernard (1998) this method is best suited when the researcher is not guaranteed more
78 | P a g e than one interview with a single participant. Moreover, it is also useful when the researcher intends to interview more than one participant in the field as it was the case with this study as 18 participants were interviewed.
Observation also enables the researcher to have an understanding of the phenomena under study, not only through questions stipulated on the interview guide but allows the researcher to identify various ways of seeing and understanding a phenomena. As discussed above, an interview schedule was drawn up prior to fieldwork. It comprised of key themes to be explored and expanded on, but allowed for flexibility during interviews. The researcher’s preparation of the schedule prior to fieldwork is in line with the arguments by Arthur and Nazroo (2003) who stress the need to prepare the guide prior to going into the field. This exercise was also fundamental as it prepared the researcher for the field and to always remind the researcher of the important themes that need to be explored. A copy of the guide is provided as an appendix to this dissertation. Participants were also asked to sign a consent form prior to interview, also attached as an appendix.
Descriptive questions such as “what is the water situation in Mothutlung?”; “what are the challenges that people face in Mothutlung pertaining to the water sector?”; and “what happened during the protest?” were used to gather information about the area and categorically outline how events unfolded in Mothutlung. These type of questions were mainly favoured because they enabled respondents to describe things and provided insights regarding the issue under study. They resulted in a narrative about Mothutlung which this dissertation aimed to fulfil (Harrell and Bradley, 2009: 35). Prior to going in to the field, I developed an interview guide alongside a set of interview questions which assisted me to explore other themes and develop some of the questions while in the field, depending on the flow of the interview, without compromising the key themes to be covered (Blandford, 2013 cited in Soegaard and Dam). What is more, similar questions were posed differently to various participants depending on their responses to avoid getting a one sided story which is the potential risk to be endured when using referrals to obtain a complete participant sample. In order to substantiate evidence from the field, literature was also reviewed.
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I spent an average of 45 minutes in an interview with each and every participant, to strengthen and validate her findings. I also used observation to observe what was happening in and around the interview setting. Observation is “a systematic description of events and behaviour in a social setting selected for study” (Marshall and Rossman, 1989: 79). It studies phenomena in its natural setting through observation and participation by the researcher. In this data collection method, a researcher must be open minded, have a non-judgemental attitude, be interested in learning about others, be a careful observer as well as a good listener and open to new experiences (DeWalt and DeWalt, 1998). It is fundamental for providing a written photograph of a phenomena using the five senses (Erlandson, Harris, Skipper and Allen, 1993). In essence, observation requires that the researcher actively observe and take detailed notes of the surroundings as well as informal interviewing (DeWalt and DeWalt, 2002). This included information communicated non-verbally by the participant, as the most significant proportion of data is communicated non-verbally. The researcher therefore ought to be in a position to interpret those signals and derive questions from them (Schmuk, 1997). According to Stockings (1983) participant observation is divided into three phases including participation, observation and interrogation which allows the researcher to observe events that the participants are unable or unwilling to share (Marshall & Rossman, 1989).
However, it is important to note that there was no point during the interviews that the participants’ were made to feel uncomfortable during observations. The interview process was thoroughly explained to the participants and they were given the platform to ask questions if they did not understand something. Amongst the things that I was looking for through observation was how participants responded through expression to some of the questions asked, how they felt about it, and whether their body language spoke to what they were reporting on (Schmuk, 1997). For instance, you find that one participant is saying they are satisfied with service delivery but their facial expression is saying the opposite. In this case, new questions were derived from the feedback signalled through the body language of the respondent.
Instruments that were fundamental in this aspect are a field diary and a recording device. A field diary and recording device (with permission of the respondents) were used to
80 | P a g e enhance the effectiveness of note-taking. Again, these two instruments complement one another in that while the researcher is busy with observation and writing down notes in the field-diary, the interview is being recorded on the recording device. As Taylor (2014) notes, a field diary is essential for recording external data. In the case of this study, a field diary was used to record all information that could not be recorded on the recording device, for example, the additional information and personal reflections of the surroundings in which the interview took place, together with gestures and emotions of the respondents when asked certain questions. Additionally, Clayton and Thorne (2000) argue that a field diary is fundamental for enhancing rigour as it records additional data that complements information recorded on the recording device. Only when given permission by the participants, a recording device was used to record the interviews. Recording information enabled me to take notes while also engaging with participants. This also assisted during the time of transcription and analysis; people’s views were represented as accurately as possible as information was written down verbatim from the recording device. During the first round of fieldwork, only one participant refused to be recorded as she feared that I might be someone from the media concerned with sponging people for information and later play it on radio and television. In this case, I tried to memorise everything that was discussed in the interview later in the day, with assistance from research assistants.
3.5.2. Document analysis
Document analysis involves reviewing secondary sources. In compiling this dissertation, newspaper and journal articles, books, media reports as well as legislation documents were reviewed. Newspaper articles were instrumental essentially for compiling a chronology of events. Various newspapers, including the Mail and Guardian and the Sowetan were reviewed from 1st of January 2014 to date. These newspapers were retrieved from SA Media under Sabinet, a database which the University of Johannesburg is subscribed to and possess numerous newspapers from all publications. Knowledge, including theories and arguments underpinning this dissertation, were extracted from books and journals as well as legislation documents. This review was fundamental in understanding how certain renowned authors understand key themes addressed in this
81 | P a g e dissertation, thus helping me develop my own argument to contribute to the academic knowledge hub. Moreover, documents like Mothutlung’s IDP were obtained from attending the community meeting on our initial visit, and water bills were obtained from some of the participants. These two documents were crucial in making a judgement between what is really being delivered to the people against what is being claimed to have been delivered by the municipality. The data acquired in the field was later transcribed and analysed thematically.
3.6. Data analysis method
Data was analysed thematically with categorisation of themes that emerge from both literature review and fieldwork. According to Braun and Clarke (2006: 79), thematic analysis is ‘identifying, analysing and reporting patterns (themes) within data from the field’. Themes and patterns were developed from the interviews conducted with all participants, as well information obtained from secondary sources. This process was possible after listening to the notes from the recording device, transcribing them and reading the notes from the recordings as well as those written in the field diary. Some of the themes that stood out include corruption within the municipality, betrayal and aging infrastructure as well as residents’ eroded faith in community meetings called by municipal officials. These four themes are significant as they are prevalent in almost all the interviews from both the municipal officials and the residents. Therefore, the above themes, alongside some that will be discussed in chapter four, were crucial in presenting the story of Mothutlung in order to shed light with on what is happening in the area. With all that being said, I have learnt that it is almost impossible for a researcher to be 100 percent objective. As such, various measures, discussed below, were undertaken to ensure that this dissertation is as authentic as possible.
3.6.1. Reflexivity
Reflexivity is concerned with the nature of the research and how it creates an imbalance between the researcher and the researched (Cresswell, 2012). Reflexivity is therefore about the power relations between the researcher and the researched as well as how other factors, including external factors, may impact on the research process and the
82 | P a g e quality of the researcher’s findings. It concerns, for instance, how factors such as gender, age, race, language, posture, dress sense and the way in which I speak can influence my findings. The researcher ought to be observant in how they analyse other people’s accounts of their lives because many factors come into play and influence the process when conducting research (Mauthner and Doucet, 2003).
With regards to this study, language was not a barrier because I am a native Tswana speaker and Mothutlung is a township dominated by Tswana speakers. The language used in interviews was therefore flexible and accommodating and I could revert to English if necessary. The Tswana language was preferred, not only to accommodate participants but to ensure that both the participants and I, as the researcher, were comfortable with each other. Most residents, especially the elderly, were free and confident to express themselves in their mother tongue. In these instances, translations were done by the researcher thereafter during transcription. However, when interviewing a Municipal official, introduction was done in English essentially to exhibit professionalism but in some cases, a bit of Tswana was used in during the interview when the participant preferred to express himself in Tswana. Most other factors, including gender, age and race did not come to play as such because the research assistants were two black confidently spoken males who in several occasions broke the ice for me and let me take over from there.
Most importantly, residents appreciated a young black woman going to school and choosing their area in particular to conduct her fieldwork. They felt honoured that somebody wanted to tell their story as they narrate it, especially the history of Mothutlung as there has never been a study of that nature before. I related to the residents mainly because I grew up in a similar setting where we would go for days without water and electricity, therefore building and maintaining rapport with participants was easy.
As discussed above, this study is part of a larger project being undertaken by Professor Mary Galvin who is investigating water governance across various regions in the country. However, responsibilities were carefully delineated from the beginning and I conducted my research independently for the most part in order to fulfil the requirements of the Masters’ degree.
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3.6.2. Triangulation
According to Olsen and Holborn (2004), triangulation is the mixing of data sources and methods so that multiple viewpoints can shed light on a particular phenomenon. This method is fundamental in validating claims that may arise in the initial stages of the study. Arguably, triangulation offers the researcher multiple views of a single phenomenon by allowing the researcher to describe or explain a situation from various standpoints. For the scope of this study, data source and methods triangulation was used in the sense that numerous data sources including books, newspaper and journal articles as well as legislation documents were reviewed. As Dezin (1970) argued, triangulation is essential to gain more insight into a particular phenomenon under study and helps the researcher to avoid being one-sided, thus ensuring validity and reliability of other sources used. Essentially, this method assists in preventing unfounded claims from being made. For instance, making an argument that the people of Mothutlung were protesting over service delivery based only on newspapers reports is misleading because the researcher will be making broad claims with no sufficient supporting evidence. Through triangulation, I came to conclude that people were not fighting only about service delivery but also corruption by some municipal officials. I came to this conclusion after reading materials about this case and going into the field to talk to the people of Mothutlung, thus this evidence was sufficient to draw this inference. Another method which was used to verify my data is member checks.
According to Cresswell (1998, 13) member checks are ‘when data, analytic categories, interpretations and conclusions are tested with members of those groups from whom the data were originally obtained’. This implies that the researcher double checks his/her data and findings from the very same people that participated in the study. It requires the researcher to go back to the participants that were previously interviewed to find out whether or not their views and opinions were correctly represented. For instance, as I previously indicated, I went back to Mothutlung to follow-up with a few people I had previously interviewed to check whether I had interpreted them correctly or whether they still held the same views. During transcription, I noted discrepancies in the data which was more than enough reason to go back and validate the findings, hence the second
84 | P a g e and the third visit. I first revisited the area on 15th January (a day supposedly meant for commemorating comrades who lost their lives during the struggle) and had a long chat with some of the participants including the councillor and the likes of Josta and Tshediso. Revisiting the area over and over was fundamental in gaining confidence in the validity and reliability of my findings. Owing to the reasons explained earlier, I went to Mothutlung for the third time in July 2017.
3.7. Ethical considerations
First and foremost, participants were presented with consent forms which clearly stipulated the aims and objectives of the study. By signing the form, participants gave permission to participate in the study. They were notified that their participation is voluntary (participants were not promised any hand-outs or payment of any sort) and that they can withdraw at any stage of the interview. Participants were promised that their information will be kept private and confidential as far as the study is concerned, and that their personal information together with information they provide will be kept private at all times. For anonymity assurance, participants’ real names were not disclosed to any other person, nor in the research findings. Pseudonyms were used throughout this research paper to conceal participants’ identity. Furthermore, information they provided will not be traceable back to them in any case. They were informed that the study is conducted for academic purposes and that the information they provided will be documented in the final report of findings. No persons under the age of 18 were interviewed. Given the sensitive nature of this study, interviews had to be paused at some stage then resumed after a few months. One would ask whether it was ethical to resume with the interviews after establishing that the community is still grieving. On my last visit, I avoided speaking to families and friends of the deceased as a way of refraining from opening old wounds, especially given the experience of one woman who broke down into tears during an interview as she had lost a son, who was the breadwinner, during the protest. Prior going to the field, I spoke to Mothutlung leader and asked him if it would be right by the community to come and finish my fieldwork and I was granted permission.
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3.8. Limitation of the study
One of the challenges that encountered in the fieldwork included gatekeeping by some members of the municipality. Initially, an interview was set to take place with the water engineer, who later referred us to the water and sanitation manager without providing any valid reason. However, the interview did take place eventually. We also had only one recording device when we went to the field which needed to be charged prior to interviews. The problem arose when we took a long time in the field and our device battery ran low. We had to drive back home just to recharge it and return to the field. This put us at a disadvantage because the time we took to go back and recharge the device would have been used to interview maybe one or two people. Using cell phones in some instances proved ineffective as one of the interviews was incomplete because phone memory was full and could not take in more information. It unfortunately stopped recording without alerting me. This meant that, if I did not have a diary with me, I would have lost most of the information from that interview. Finally, one interviewee refused to be recorded and I had to memorise the entire interview later when I get home. As a result, I could not memorise it word for word.
Money was not a challenge to some extent as Prof Galvin had all costs covered for her researchers and I would tap into this when they went to do fieldwork. However, problems arose when I wished to go to Mothutlung as I could not afford money for transport and accommodation, I had to wait until the other researchers were going to the field. During the June holidays, I had saved up some money to go to Mothutlung as I was home in Rustenburg and it was less expensive compared to travelling to Mothutlung from Johannesburg. Ample time was spent in the field and this included revisiting the research area over and over again. Due to the delicate nature of the topic at hand, the study had to be dependent on snowballing which increases bias in that the researcher only depends on the judgement of previous participants to obtain a complete sample, this may result in a population that hold a similar view on a particular aspect denying the researcher the opportunity to explore other avenues. What is more, fieldwork had to be paused at some point after learning that some residents had not yet completely healed from the traumatic experience of losing loved ones.
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3.9. Conclusion
This chapter presented ways in which information was gathered from the participants. Not only did it present how the researcher went about collecting data from in the field, but it also provided the rationale for opting for those methods. It began by designating which research methodology was adopted, and provided reasons for favouring this particular approach, together with its data collection and analysis methods. Description of participants as well as how they were recruited is broadly elucidated in this chapter. Moreover, measures enforced to ensure validity and trustworthiness were also presented. In addition to this, the ethics binding this study were clearly presented. Finally, the factors which restricted the study were communicated.
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Chapter four Mothutlung, the continued struggle for water
4.1 Historical background of Mothutlung 4.1.1 Introduction
This chapter is comprised of three sections which in combination narrate the story of Mothutlung. The first section provides the background of Mothutlung whereby factors such as the emergence of Mothutlung and its local municipality, political make-up, geography and events that occurred prior to the protest will be discussed in detail. In essence, this section is fundamental in understanding the historical development of the area and aids in analysing how this historical development and other factors might have contributed in the eruption of the protest that occurred in Mothutlung. Towards the end of this section, former processes of engagements between residents and their municipality will be discussed in order to illuminate how these have evolved in the area over time. The second section will look at the actual protest event, thereby exploring what happened on 15th January 2014 and how the protest action was received by the municipality. Finally, the third section is primarily concerned with what transpired following a protest action in Mothutlung. It will look at the changes that took place, be it restoration of water and/or changes in engagement processes, as well as prospects for another protest action over services such as water and sanitation. These three sections are each fundamental in understanding how events in Mothutlung unfolded and to paint a picture of the current situation.
The chapter is comprised of information acquired from the Local Government Handbooks (LGH) of South Africa during the period of 2013 to 2017. This LGH is compiled by YesMedia. The abovementioned handbook is made up of information of all local governments in South Africa, ranging from municipal information to their political make up, as well as administrative management and several audits that have taken place within these municipalities. To substantiate information provided from these handbooks, data from the interviews conducted with a municipal official as well as Mothutlung residents will be incorporated to give a comprehensive background of the area as well as to get a
88 | P a g e grip of what is happening in the area. Furthermore, to construct the chronology of events in section two, newspaper reports, together with reported one-on-one interviews by newspaper reporters with some of the residents were reviewed. These newspaper articles were retrieved from SA Media, on the SABINET database, to which the University of Johannesburg is subscribed.
The area of Mothutlung was established during apartheid in the 1970s and thereafter fell under Bophuthatswana, which has had important implications for the expectations of local service delivery in the contemporary period. The argument cutting across this chapter is that the challenges experienced in Mothutlung were inherited through its historical development and the way in which it was governed prior to 1994. The credibility of this argument lies in the manner in which interviewees reported on how Mothutlung was developed, which is not unique as many townships followed the same route of development under the apartheid regime.
Sentiments supporting the above argument are posited by Alexander and Pfaffe (2011) who argue that contemporary protests are rooted in the history of the apartheid regime due to the structural planning of townships that displaced people from the work places and suburbs. This is also evident in previous experiences of Mothutlung residents. Therefore, Mnwana (2011) suggests that there should be a consensus in the paradox that Bophuthatswana is “a dustbin of history”, not necessarily because the Bantustans were popular during their time but because it inevitably left an imprint which could not be swept be away with the dawning of the new democratic South Africa in 1994. Drawing from the above arguments, it is clear that the challenges of current South Africa and, in this case Mothutlung, derive from its particular history. Consequently, the aforementioned historical legacies continue to haunt Mothutlung; their intensity has deepened gradually, compelling residents to react in the form of a protest in late 2014.
As previously delineated, the first section of this chapter is fundamental as it seeks to unpack the build-up of a problem beginning in 1976, when Mothutlung was established, through to 2001. It was indicated by a large proportion of interviewees that the underlying problems that gave rise to protest began years, if not decades, before community members took to the streets. The first section seeks to address the research question:
89 | P a g e what have Mothutlung residents done to engage with local level governance processes to improve their water services in the events leading up to the 2014 water protests? It does this by tracing the history of Mothutlung in its broader context, exploring how things have evolved over time within the area. In the process of tracing the historical development of Mothutlung, it is important to understand the local municipality that governs Mothutlung and gather some understanding of how certain changes might have led to what is described by residents as “poor service delivery”, in both Mothutlung and other neighbouring townships. As the section unfolds, challenges that Mothutlung residents’ encountered will be unpacked. On a similar note, this section will also look at processes of engagement that residents embarked on prior to protest action in a quest to change their living conditions. Looking at what people did before and after the protest will help shed light on how the protest action developed, what protesting means to the residents, their state of mind during and after the protest, and people’s choices about improving service delivery in Mothutlung.
Arguably, lack of service delivery is not a unique phenomenon to Mothutlung. The year 2009 marked an alarming milestone in the emergence of service protests all around South Africa (Alexander et al., 2013; Alexander and Pfaffe, 2011; and Booysen, 2009). Even though it has been cautioned previously that these protests should not be referred to as “service delivery protests”,vii a large proportion of these protests comprise an element of service delivery as the main grievance (Alexander et al. 2013). Prominent variations are manifested in the specifics of these grievances. For instance, while some communities demand better services in general, others protest over lack of housing or, like Mothutlung, over frequent water interruptions and municipal maladministration. It is for this reason that Alexander et al. (2013) have cautioned against the tendency to regard all community related protests as service delivery protests, mainly because grievances vary from community to community. Not all community protests are service delivery protests, irrespective of whether comprise an aspect which falls under service delivery. Mothutlung is amongst the areas that have been complaining about water interruptions in Madibeng municipality for the past 15 years, with their grievances falling on deaf ears (Bond, 2014). In order to contextualise Mothutlung within a broader context of protests and their historical development, three theories of protest from prominent protest experts will be
90 | P a g e reviewed. This includes Bond’s notion of Pop-corn protests (2014), Booysen’s theory of “the brick and the ballot” (2007, 2009), and Alexander’s (2010) “rebellion of the poor”. Rebellion of the Poor will be adopted to explain and shed light on why Mothutlung residents decided to take to the streets.
In addition, this will heighten the understanding of experiences and decisions of protestors in order that their justifications to protest will be explored. Although some of the neighbouring communities, such as Majakaneng, Jericho, Damonsville and Hebron embarked on a similar protest in 2014, the story of Mothutlung remains a special case, primarily because of its historical development. It is also symbolic of the Marikana massacre which happened several months before the protest in Mothutlung. Similar to Mothutlung, which was left grieving for four of its community members over water interruption struggles, the Marikana massacre claimed the lives of 34 miners while they protested for better working conditions and a salary increase. In addition to internal municipal challenges exacerbating recurring issues of poor service delivery, in 2014 Madibeng was placed under administration for the second since 2010 (Sifile, 2014). This was partially because villages in Madibeng have been complaining about poor service delivery since early 2001 and these issues escalated in 2010 as Mothutlung residents indicated that they had been experiencing water interruptions for the past 15 years (Meiki*, 2016). Again, people were unhappy over municipal mal-administration in Madibeng.
The next section offers a general overview of Mothutlung, thereafter discussing its establishment and its history since the 1970s. The chapter then hones in on the immediate series of engagements and protests in the contemporary period, which culminated in the killing of four protestors in 2014. The chapter then details the events linked to this protest and its aftermath and argues that the contemporary service delivery protests over water in the area cannot be adequately understood without an analysis of both false promises over the years and the role of the political history of the area.
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4.1.2 Background of Madibeng Local Municipality Madibeng Local Municipality (MLM) is a local municipality which falls under Bojanala Platinum District Municipality in the North West, South Africa. According to the Municipal Structures Act (Act 117 of 1998), MLM falls under category B which performs the key role of providing basic services to the communities that fall within it. It covers the area of about 3 839 square kilometres in Brits, which is about 60km away from Rustenburg and 50km North of Pretoria (YesMedia, 2013-2017). It is situated right in the middle of Magaliesburg and the Witwatersrand. Brits, Marikana, Mooinooi and Haartebeespoort are amongst the towns which fall under Madibeng Local Municipality and it has about 43 villages including Oukasie and Damonsville. This municipality is known for its diversified economy, agriculture, mining and tourism. Although the main economic sectors in the area include agriculture, manufacturing and mining, the latter is predominant. Haartebeespoort Dam is the main tourist attraction site in Madibeng, making it the second most visited place after the waterfront in Cape Town (YesMedia, 2013-2017).
4.1.3 Demographic information
From the 2011 census, StatsSA (2011) recorded a population of 477 381 people living within Madibeng municipality. Madibeng is a black dominated community with the majority of the population speaking Tswana, followed by Tsonga, Afrikaans and Southern Sotho. A small proportion of whites, coloureds and Indians can be found in this area. Madibeng municipality has 195 564 households of which 63.5 percent reside in formal dwellings. As it was reported by some community members, education is vital for the community that resides within Madibeng, particularly in Mothutlung as they believe that education is the key to success. This is evidenced by the 51 percent of youth who go to school with 59 percent acquiring matric-level education or higher. However, unemployment within the municipality is high. In 2015, it was reported that 30.4 percent of residents were unemployed in this area (StatsSA, 2011)
In an attempt to empower the youth and mitigate unemployment in Mothutlung, the municipality has introduced Local Economic Development (LED) activities to equip youth with skills to better their lives and even make a living from those activities. Some of the activities include agricultural projects, formalisation of street trading, key investment
92 | P a g e opportunities whereby the youth are encouraged to start up their own businesses and get support from the municipality (tenderpreneurship), agricultural production, tourism and construction of a multi-purpose centre. Communication of these activities is done through municipal noticeboards, City Press and Brits Post. The challenge, however, is the exclusion of those who cannot access this information due to fiscal constraints. For instance, due to the high unemployment rate, some people may not be able to access this information as they cannot afford to buy City Press every day, never mind transport costs for travelling to the offices at Brits on daily basis to check for available vacancies. Such barriers should be addressed so that everyone can benefit equally from the projects intended to assist each and every individual that resides within Madibeng.
4.1.4 Political make-up and administrative management
Prior to the overthrow of the apartheid government, the entire area fell under Bophuthatswana and the late former president Mr Lucas Mangope. In 1994, the ANC won office and the province of North West was formed. This province was further divided into districts, including Bojanala under which MLM now falls (Meiki*, 2016). Madibeng has 41 wards and each ward ought to have its own councillor who is elected by the community. These wards are under the administration of one mayor who works hand in hand with the Executive Council. This includes the speaker and chief whip, the municipal administration and a little assistance from provincial government. In 2013, the Council comprised of the ANC which had 54 seats, DA with 14 seats and EFF, COPE, APC and ACDP with one seat per political party (YesMedia, 2013-2017). This trend continued up until the local election which took place in August 2016 and saw the ANC landing only 45 seats while the DA acquired 16 and the EFF 14 seats. The Forum for Service Delivery (ASD) and the Freedom Front Plus (PLUS) occupied two seats each while APC and COPE remained with one seat each (YesMedia, 2013-2017).
Although the ANC managed to maintain the majority of seats, the picture we get from this shift is rather unsettling, since it portrays the people’s party losing the majority of its supporters. Although the majority of respondents would not disclose their political affiliation, the EFF’s success in acquiring 14 seats in the 2016 election undoubtedly paints the party’s power and influence in Mothutlung since its inception in 2013. Under the
93 | P a g e management of the ANC, the municipality has been placed under provincial administration twice since 2001, following the allegations of corrupt municipal officials (Sifile, 2014: 1). This saw changes in the municipal management when the Mayor and some members of her Council, including the chief whip and speaker, “resigned” from their jobs. Even though the ANC has maintained office in Mothutlung, there are evident divisions within the party itself. In Mothutlung, one resident indicated that although he still has faith in the ANC, he did not trust the current leadership. Even though trust in the majority party has been eroded, however, people’s loyalty has ultimately remained intact (Booysen, 2007). On a similar note, according to Booysen (2007 as quoted in Runciman, 2016), there is a growing trend in continued electoral dominance of the ANC in a number of poor communities that experience high frequency of protest actions. This scenario is best explained as a “Rebellion of the Poor” as theorised by Alexander (2010), who argues that these kind of protests are “rebellious” since the majority of them are characterised by violence or disruption (Runciman, 2016: 420).
4.1.5 General overview of Mothutlung Township
Mothutlung is amongst the “townships” that fall within MLM. It is difficult to tell whether Mothutlung is a township or a village because it has a mixture of characteristics for both a village and a township. It has different kinds of house structures; its setting looks like that of a village in some parts, and its level of service delivery characterises that of a village as well. There are shacks, RDP houses, and much unused grass space with no parks or recreational centre. However, throughout this dissertation, Mothutlung will be regarded as a township partially because its residents regard it as such.
According to some interviewees, the township was established in the 1970’s when most of the inhabitants of Mmakau were relocated because it was believed that Mmakau was too close to Brits town during the apartheid era (Meiki, 2016; Molefe, 2017 and Sylvia, 2017). Mothutlung is situated outside Brits, in between Mmakau and Damonsville. It has two wards, ward 20 and 21. Ward 20 is very small with only 1900 households of the total of 160 000 households of MLM. Each ward has its own ward councillor. According to Meiki (2016), Mothutlung is not yet a middle class area because the majority of the people are unemployed and, of those who are working, most of them earn below R3500 as the
94 | P a g e majority of them work in shops. A report on Brits Town Precinct Plan (2014: 61) classifies Mothutlung as a ‘low income residential area’.
According to a description by some interviewees including Meiki* (2017), Mothutlung is a peaceful small community which values education. It was reported by YesMedia (2011) that Mothutlung has a fairly small population. Residents stated that, although Mothutlung is over 40 years old, it is not developing and, again, some neighbouring areas like Damonsville, which were established after Mothutlung, now look better than the former (Michael*, 2017). In their statements, residents postulated that Dammonsville has pavements, a recreational centre and improved water and sanitation (Michael*; Meiki*; Kamogelo* and Tshiamo*, 2017). Damonsville is a township which is opposite the crossing where shootings took place during the protest. Situated a few kilometres away from Mothutlung, Damonsville is a multiracial suburb of the Bojanala Region falling under MLM and it is home to over three thousand inhabitants. Like Mothutlung, Damonsville is also a Tswana-dominated area.
When you enter Mothutlung Township, you can feel the sense of unity amongst the inhabitants. However, regarding service delivery, it is clear that the township lacks proper water, sanitation and roads. For instance, when you enter the area, you can see there is no infrastructure such as tarred roads, no drainage systems, no street lights, the road humps are not marked, and water is dirty. Although there are different kinds of houses (i.e. RDP houses, shacks, Domhuisesviii built by the late Mr. Mangope and formal housing), residents indicated that there is corruption in the allocation of these houses and house stands. As delineated previously, education is highly regarded in Mothutlung and a large proportion of people are educated. However, only a few of them are employed therefore the unemployment rate is on the rise in the area (Suzie*, 2016). Suzie, one of the residents, also indicated that a number of executive members of the provincial government were born and raised in Mothutlung.
Now that an overview of Mothutlung has been presented, it is imperative to explore how the township was established so as to understand its history and how historical legacies might have played a role in shaping its present reality.
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This is the map of Mothutlung and its neighbouring villages/ townships. Photo by Google photos.
This picture depicts a sign of the direction of Mothutlung. Photo by Google photos.
4.1.6 Development of Mothutlung Township and its governance under Bophuthatswana (1970-1993)
In April 1970, a large number of the people who belonged to Oukasie and other neighbouring townships like Mmakau were moved to Mothutlung on trucks. Two elders who were interviewed indicated that they would be alerted a day before that they will be moved the following day and that they should pack their possessions at night (Sylvia* and Molefe*, 2017). Like some areas, such as Paynesville, people were relocated from Mmakau and Oukasie because it was believed that these areas were too close to Brits town during the apartheid era. Owing to the fact that this relocation occurred in the middle of the year, learners who attended school in Oukasie were allocated a bus that used to
96 | P a g e transport them to school. Their parents would pay for the bus transportation on monthly basis. Those who could not afford it would catch a lift from a bakkie belonging to Mr. Semenya who was the first person to be moved to Mothutlung. During the course of time, the first school to be built in Mothutlung was Mahajane Primary School in 1971 so that children could stop travelling long distances to school. Initially, the school had a shortage of teachers as it had only three female teachers and they had their principal in April/May 1971 who came with a few more teachers. In 1973, Mokwena Primary was built because Mahajane was not able to accommodate all learners as some learners attended at Roma Hall. During this period, secondary school learners attended in Mmakau in Malatse- Motsepe and many had to walk barefoot. Seven years later, the third school, Mothutlung High School, was built and it is still operational. At that time, they had only one store (Dinare General Dealer) and one beer hall (Bara beer hall) which are also still operational. They also had offices where they used to pay for rent and for their services. Before a clinic was built, the community used to go to Mmakau clinic.
Under Bophuthatswana, service delivery was better because people had constant and clean running water inside their yards, they had boreholes, proper housing, tarred roads in town, culvertsix, sewage systems and electricity (Masego*, 2016). Arguably, almost all infrastructure in Mothutlung was constructed by the late Mr Mangope under his government. In terms of electricity, they were provided with electricity boxes and they would electrify their entire house and top up electricity when it was finished. They paid for their water and rent for their houses (Masego*, 2016). If you did not pay your rent, the officials would come and chase you out with your children and then lock the house. If you defaulted for three months, they chased you away and found new people who would be able to afford the rent. This pay-as-you-use system was too expensive for people, hence they found it difficult to keep up with payments. In terms of employment, Bophuthatswana built firms so that people could work and fend for their families. People who used to work at the firms earned R12.50 a week and still managed to live because things were less expensive then. For instance, they would pay R4 for rent. Now that those firms are no longer operational, many people are without jobs. A good example of these non- operational firms is in Mogwase, a semi-suburb in Rustenburg where I come from.
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Previously, people used to work at those firms but they were shut down for no apparent reason.
Mothutlung was under Bophuthatswana during the late Mr. Mangope regime and truly he was delivering. We had almost everything, we have sanitation done by the late Mr. Mangope through Bophuthatswana. We had public works which used to take care of our grievances when we report to their office. We were paying water bills costing R10 neh, and also paying for lights, we didn’t have prepaid meters (Meiki*, 2017)
When coming to the issue of housing, instead of title deeds, people were given a deed of grant for housing which is a letter stating that you are given the house provisionally but not owning it per se (Johannes*, 2017). The problem with a deed of grant is that it was relevant then and but is no longer recognised within the current system, hence people are fighting for full ownership of houses (Johannes*, 2017). In this regard, people are now promised to be given formal letters from the Department of Housing so that they can attach it to their deed of grant and the two combined can be equivalent to a title deed. However, the people have since waited for this process to be effected. The big questions that may be relevant to this issue are: How is it possible that a family can live in a house for over 30 years and still not have full ownership of the house? Why would they pay for these houses all these years and still not own them? How can they allocate RDP houses to the people and yet not give them their title deeds? And when are they going to resolve this issue? Perhaps one response to all these questions would lie in the fact that North West Housing Corporation (NWHC) still owns half of the land of Mothutlung and some of the houses (Johannes*, 2017). This means that, the municipality still owes NWHC money, hence the latter is holding onto their land and houses which makes it impossible to grant the people full ownership. Until this debt is settled, the municipality cannot issue title deeds to the community members. As matters stand, such issues are not communicated with residents. It was evident in some interviews that people have no idea of what is going on in their area with regards to the issue of ownership of houses.
In 1991, a conflict broke out between South African citizens and the late Mr. Mangope, together with his administration. People wanted to overthrow the regime of Bophuthswana
98 | P a g e but the late Mr Mangope refused to do away with the Bantustans (Molefe*, 2017). During this war, people were forcing the late Mr. Mangope to join CODESA but he refused, arguing that he would never be ruled by a prisoner (Mr. Nelson Mandela). In the process of this conflict, shops, a clinic and offices were burnt down. This meant that, although new properties should be built again for the community, the government could not afford it and there was no way that the late Mr Mangope would build them since people had turned against him.
In 1992/93, a new clinic was built by Vametco minex in Rankote and it was opened in 2005/2006. As such, it seems as though this mine has played a major role in the lives of Mothutlung residents and continues with its task to this date as it has also assisted in building Kgatelopele and the local taxi rank for the people. However, taxi drivers rejected that taxi rank, stating that it does not look like a taxi rank and therefore it is now dysfunctional. At the same time, the government of the late Mr. Mangope built new offices so that people could carry on paying for services. Many of the people stopped paying for services as they indicated that they were “fed up” with Bophuthatswana and were ready to welcome the ANC government. Little did they know that their debt from the former regime would follow them even under the new government, hence some now owe thousands of rand to the municipality while awaiting cancellation of these debts. During this period of reconstruction of new offices, two new schools (Katakane Primary and Sedimosang Middle School) were built as well. However, Sedimosang Middle School is now incorporated into Mothutlung High School because the post-1994 South African education system wanted to do away with middle schools. Currently, Mothutlung has only three primary schools (Mahajane, Mokwena and Katakane) and one high school which is Mothutlung High School.
Following a discussion on how Mothutlung came into being as a township and how services were being delivered to the people, it is fundamental to move on to discuss how the transition of 1994 impacted on service delivery to the people. The following portion is significant as it might be instrumental in unpacking how the changes in service delivery occurred and how this shift has accelerated the built-up of frustration amongst Mothutlung residents.
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4.1.7 Mothutlung township after the 1994 transition The anti-apartheid struggle was won in 1994 when the ANC took office and people now belonged under North West Province. This meant that people finally managed to overthrow the apartheid system and were thrilled to finally fall under the multi-racial government. They had great expectations as they were tired of living under the former oppressive system. During this period of transition, a lot of things were transformed, including the communication channel between the people and their government. Mothutlung was now serviced by Madibeng District Municipality so everyone in Mothutlung and the surrounding areas had to travel to Brits to report their grievances. This transition meant that whatever issues people were experiencing in their community, they would have to travel to Brits to report them. According to a local resident, Meiki* (2016), this current system excludes those people who cannot afford to travel to Brits. It is also not effective because the municipality allocated only one office for everyone in all 41 wards: due to the long queue of complainants, you are put on a waiting list irrespective of whether your complaint is urgent or not. This then meant that those who could not afford to go to the offices would have to keep their grievances to themselves and wait for the upcoming community meeting when they would be meeting with officials from the municipality (Meiki*, 2016). One resident explained:
So in 1994, the system was changed because that’s when ANC won office of this region, we then fell under North West province. Our province was further divided and we fall under Bojanala district but our municipality is Madibeng. So that’s when the problem started to be intensive. The system of public works changed, most offices were now dysfunctional, and most offices particularly the one we report about services were moved to Brits. You see? And this thing killed us because most of Mothutlung residents are unemployed, this means it affect people economically because you have to travel from Mothutlung to Brits. So that’s when we started having problems with service delivery. But it got worse as years went by because each and every councillor come, we elect them and they promise us change, mind you it’s still ANC, but unfortunately… Mothutlung was established in 1970s this means their piping system rot, got damaged and needs to be maintained so now maintenance that was done by Bophuthatswana is no longer
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taking place because now people must report in the office at Madibeng, Brits. And when we get to the office, we’re not allocated certain individual who will attend Mothutlung residents separately, we all report at office number 2 at Madibeng which ultimately end up being overpopulated and they put us on database, imagine I’d be in need of a service urgently and I will be made to join the queue (Meiki*, 2016).
There was indeed a notable transformation in people’s lives from 1994. However, although other residents indicate that this transformation is not what they had anticipated, it is unclear as to what extent residents are satisfied or dissatisfied with this transition. The majority of interviewees reported that it has impacted them negatively, particularly those who are hit hard by economic instability due to unemployment. It seems that when people were fighting against the Bophuthatswana of the late Mr. Mangope, little did they know that their lives would turn out the way they have today. However, as much as residents complain about these changes, it should not be forgotten that the new system has brought positive change to some extent. For instance, people are now politically emancipated and there is democracy. Although some residents maintain that the level of service delivery has declined under the new government, others indicated that they are content with what they are given in terms of service delivery despite its poor quality:
Although we may complain about it sometimes, we must also appreciate what we’re given. Because now we can flush our toilets, cook, bath and clean you see. And they told us that we must not use this water for gardening because water is scarce now, they allocated people who will go house to house teaching us how to use water (Suzie*, 2016).
It should also be noted that, as argued by Zhuwakinyu (2012), delivery of services does not necessarily mean that those services are of good quality. As such, with regards to service delivery, although several services were being delivered in the area, some were lacking while others were of poor quality. For instance, external roads were tarred while internal roads were filled with pavement. The new government also built drainage and storm water drainage systems; however, the community is complaining about the company that received the tender to build these systems. Community members argue
101 | P a g e that these systems are not properly constructed because the tender was given to incompetent people and they just wasted government’s money. For instance, these systems are too wide to trap water inside and they do not solve the problem of sewage running on the surface. Instead, these systems create another job for the people to construct pipes to channel water away from their homes and to build small bridges to enable access into their yards by car. Despite these complaints, the government has done nothing about these drainage systems.
I wouldn’t really want to compare the two because the eras were completely different. And some people are now enjoying their lives while others don’t. Previously, we were oppressed by the white but if you look at it now, we’re being oppressed by our own black people. Right? But really, although those white were oppressing us, they were taking care of us at the same time. They would give us food and clothes to give our children. But now, this government only take care of us through pension. Whites would farm and we’d eat but now our people only look out for themselves only. At the moment, right, forgetting that right might also have a wrong within it. I’m glad you come my children; all I can say to you go to school and right and pass successful. Everything that I shared with you is true and I wouldn’t mind sharing it all over again because I’m no afraid and I stand by it. (Suzie*, 2016)
The above quote is from an elderly woman from Mothutlung who explained how this transformation has benefitted some at the expense of others. She reminisced over how good the apartheid system was when she stated that, although they were being oppressed, the oppressors knew that they had kids at home who needed to be fed hence they would give them food parcels and clothes. As truth may be a bitter pill to swallow, the above scenario reflects how unhappy residents are with their current state of affairs. It is also evident that people are essentially disappointed at the current system as they do not benefit as they envisioned. For instance, people have anticipated improved service delivery but instead received degraded services compared to that of the late Mr. Mangope. Kelebogile* (2017) took the discussion further by explaining that all that the new government did was to construct roads, construct pavement on some parts and also
102 | P a g e build storm water drainage which was actually done on the wrong side of the road. In addition to this statement, one resident indicated that the “so-called” storm water drainage actually created another job for residents to build pipes so as to trap water flowing in that system.
I don’t understand how to put it because they only did the road and constructed those things for storm water on the wrong side of the road. They can’t trap water because they’re placed on the wrong side, as you can see on that street. They don’t even clean these things like the late Mangope did (Ditebogo*, 2016).
This is a drainage system from Mothutlung Township. Picture by Author.
As indicated previously, although residents are understandably unhappy, some victories can be celebrated in Mothutlung under this new government. Under this municipality, some progress has been made, including the building and provision of RDP houses which began in 1998 and continued to 2013. A sports centre was also built for the community although it was left unfinished. The cemetery was improved and new toilets were built, although these toilets are now dysfunctional, as indicated by one elder (Johannah*, 2016). During the ANC’s time of office in Mothutlung, tar roads have been fixed for the
103 | P a g e third time in the period of 20 years and, even now, there are potholes which mean they need to be fixed again. This now leaves a question of whose fault is it that roads needs to be fixed frequently? Is it a matter of the quality of materials and construction, or whether the community is to be blamed for not looking after their roads? In terms of electricity, Eskom provides the community with electricity as it has a contract with the government. The system that is being employed now is a prepaid meter which means that you buy before you use and, if you do not buy electricity, you will not have lights. When it comes to waste, the municipality has a contract with a local company which ensures that the community is clean at all times and there are no complains in this regard.
The community is faced with challenges of the underperforming water sector. Their water is contaminated and they experience frequent water interruptions (cuts and shortages). For example, residents indicated that water delivery was frequently interrupted and they were not informed on time about upcoming interruptions. To solve this problem, a tankering system was introduced whereby the municipality contracted trucks from individuals to deliver water to the people via trucks and they would pay them for their services. Meiki* stated that:
Around 2014/2015, they introduced trucks to deliver water for us. You’d find that there’s no water in our taps, I think our taps were functional in 2012. So when the problem of water cut-off intensified they adopted the system of trucks to deliver water. So we didn’t know what was happening honestly we just saw trucks in our area and we fetched water with our buckets (Meiki*, 2016).
Many other interviewed residents shared similar sentiments, reiterating the above statement of deteriorating service delivery. From what I have gathered through observation of the situation of Mothutlung, there is a challenge pertaining to service delivery, which is exacerbated by poor communication, greed and corruption. This conclusion was drawn after it arose that the tanks which were contracted to provide people with water actually belonged to some of the municipal officials with the aim of making money from the whole situation. Arguably, what is happening in the area is a battle for power and leadership as well as corruption, which is made possible by the practice of tenderpreneurship which is highly embraced in Mothutlung. This argument is
104 | P a g e founded on a follow-up visit to the previously interviewed residents in 2017. Initially, residents had indicated flaws from the municipal side but later reported a capturing of current leadership by the big bosses. This phenomenon I termed “local leadership capture” following explanations by residents that these big bosses put people who are easily influenced in power so that they can be able to control them from behind the scenes. For instance, they are only fronting by giving elected leaders artificial power when they know that they call the shots behind closed doors. This finding is significant because this lack of trust amongst the community members for their previous leaders is now influencing judgement of their newly elected leadership who they argue have already been captured (Faguet, 2003). This aspect will be discussed further in the third section, examining what transpired after the protest of late 2013.
According to some residents who participated in the study, service delivery was good during the reign of the late Mr. Mangope and they indicated that almost every infrastructure they have was brought by the late Mr. Mangope. Now they are experiencing challenges because the infrastructure is aging due to lack of maintenance and proper management. Drawing from a report by YesMedia, it is argued that Madibeng municipality has improved basic service delivery since 2011. For instance, the majority of households have water taps both inside the yard and 200m away from the yard. In terms of electricity, 22 000 households making up 43 percent of all households, have electricity connection. Looking at the sewage department, the municipality provides flush toilets both for the public sewage and specific tanks, and they also provide ventilated pit toilets. The evident change, however, is in line with the argument posed by one municipal official who classified their infrastructure as “aging infrastructure”. For instance, one resident stated that:
Our area was under Bophuthatswana during the late Mr. Mangope regime and truly he was delivering. We had almost everything. We have sanitation done by the late [Mr.] Mangope through Bophuthatswana. Initially, we had public works which we used to take our grievances to when we report to their office. We were paying the bill for water and it was costing R10 neh, and also paying for lights, we didn’t have prepaid meters (Meiki*, 2016).
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Owing to the findings obtained from residents on the ground, the transition that was expected to bring better service delivery has brought with it unfulfilled promises. Initially, service delivery was better but it gradually started to change as they recognised deteriorating quality of services. What is more, people are paying for services even though they are dissatisfied with the quality. For instance, residents indicated that, even though they receive contaminated water and have dysfunctional water meters, they still receive water bills every month that they are expected to settle. What is interesting is the inconsistent assertions made by municipal officials in both their local municipal handbook and in one of the face to face interviews conducted. The handbook points to improvements in water service delivery. Even so, an interviewed municipal official stated that they are aware of their shortfalls in service delivery, particularly in the water and sanitation sector. Below is a breakdown of service delivery under MLM.
Housing and electricity
In brief, people in Mothutlung do receive some services even though they may not be of proper quality. This is to say, although it may seem that the municipality is not delivering in other sectors, people do receive services at the end of the day. For instance, there are different kinds of houses in Mothutlung, making it difficult to regard it as a village or township. Some of these houses, including Domhuises were constructed by the late former president Mr. Lucas Mangope during his time of office and people continue to live in them. Historically, residents used to pay rent for these houses, but now things have changed as some have received RDP houses from the government and others are affluent enough to build a house for themselves. As one resident stated, they do not need houses at the moment as other houses are not occupied and used by naughty kids around the township as their chilling spot. When Meiki* was asked to paint a picture of services in Mothutlung, she responded by addressing the housing question which was touched on as a priority by some residents during a community meeting with local leadership:
Yeah, so according to me, I don’t think Mothutlung community needs land and housing, firstly we are seen as middle class people, of which we are not as you can see and we have other serious issues to address such as unemployment, water and sanitation (Meiki*, 2016).
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Meiki insinuated that the community is faced with real challenges that need to be addressed urgently and that the housing issue should not be made a priority. Following this, it is clear that the community is unaware that the municipality does not hold full ownership of some of the land and that some houses in Mothutlung, as mentioned earlier, belong to the NWHC who is owed a historic debt by the municipality (Molefe*, 2017). The above statement reflects that people are yet to learn that, until the debt is settled, they cannot be given full ownership of these houses, even though they are in possession of letters indicating that they have been living and paying rent for these houses for years. This crucial information is seldom communicated to the residents. As one interviewee argued, there is some corruption in the allocation of houses in Mothutlung, particularly the RDP houses (Johannah*, 2016). To expand further, she stated that some houses were wrongfully allocated to some people and they do not have “title deed” because these houses belonged to someone else. What is more, some people are aware that these houses do not fully belong to them; what they possess is not a title deed but a deed of grant. This is not recognised by current land policy unless it is attached to a letter from the municipality stipulating that you are the rightful owner of the house. She explained:
Yes, and so Mamabiletsa was a straightforward person, even these RDPs we received them through her, and she was encouraging Mothutlung youth to register for those houses instead of recruiting people from outside. Right now these houses belong to people from outside. They don’t even have title deed. You must stay in the RDP for 5 years before you get all ownership of the house (Johannah*, 2016).
According to beneficiaries of these houses, they were told by officials that they ought to occupy these RDP houses for five years in order to be deemed rightful owners of the property. From this logic, I would imagine that the majority of these inhabitants have acquired full ownership of these houses as per the RDP policy requirement. However, the majority of Mothutlung residents still lack full ownership of these RDP houses and the majority remain unaware of what is happening. This dissertation will be an eye opener for many people to understand what is going on in the community.
Following these cases pertaining to housing and the alleged corruption by residents, it is fundamental to commend the municipality, in conjunction with Eskom, for supplying the
107 | P a g e community with constant electricity, depending on the ability of the individuals to top-up electricity as needed. Even though the municipality might be underperforming in some respects, electricity is amongst the services with which the community experiences few, if any, challenges. This is mainly because this service is provided directly by Eskom which is contracted by the municipality to provide electricity to areas which fall under MLM. Eskom deals directly with problems concerning electricity and communicates with the municipality if there are going to be any interruptions. Therefore, people purchase electricity directly from this entity as they operate with “prepaid meters”. As such, the municipality is less involved with what is going on with electricity and how people use it because they pay for it directly with no subsidies. The only thing that residents complain about pertaining to electricity is the fact that electricity units are expensive and do not last long, even if they try to use it sparingly.
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Domhuises houses in Mothutlung. Photo by Author.
Infrastructure and the water sector
It is clear that the municipality is struggling with “aging” infrastructure. Not only was this problem reported by the interviewed municipal official, community members are also aware that the majority of their problems result from aging infrastructure. Interestingly, the
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MLM is aware of what lies at the root of their problems and is honest about it. As Hedden & Cilliers (2014) and Algotsson and Murombo (2009) have argued, many problems in the water sector arise due to poor maintenance and management of infrastructure. More importantly, these problems exist because infrastructure in Mothutlung is old, having been installed during the Bophuthatswana era, and needs to be repaired. Johannah* made mention that:
Most of the time [water] it’s not clean and those who can afford, they don’t drink it and buy water instead. Sometimes you can see that you’re not supposed to be drinking that water but some of us drink it because we can’t afford to buy water, we have old pipes from the late Mangope’s infrastructure, all of the infrastructure is old and dates back to 1972 (Johannah*, 2016).
Concurrent to this assertion is the fact that the municipality also acknowledges that it does not have proper infrastructure to deliver services to the people. With regards to the water challenge in the area, a municipal official highlighted that, owing to the fact that they lack proper infrastructure in some areas of the municipality, the municipality has opted for tankering water to those areas as a way of improving water service delivery to the people. When asked to paint a picture of service delivery within the municipality, with particular attention to shortcomings in water delivery over the years, the official began by describing different water supply systems they use and their costs. He maintained that:
There are no costs involved in this groundwater supply. And then the infrastructure we have is categorised as aging. Because it has been there for more than 50 years. We have got an aging infrastructure. So that on its own contributes to the shortfall of water delivery, we cannot supply constant water because we experience a lot of water leakages (pipe bursts), and the water that is going down the stream without our knowledge (Pogiso*, 2016).
In addition to what has been argued above, the municipal official reported that even though they acknowledge that they are dealing with aging infrastructure as a municipality, they also experience theft and vandalism of infrastructure by those who they believe to be local residents. Consequently, this contributes to the inability of the municipality to deliver required services on time. However, residents denied these allegations and raised
109 | P a g e their own assertions. It is clear that, despite the fact that MLM works with aging infrastructure, there are some factors at play which undermine constant and effective service delivery in areas that fall under Madibeng, particularly in Mothutlung. For instance, the municipal official also revealed that some of the theft cases they experience includes that of cables and taps. He further highlighted that the issue of theft and vandalism is very sensitive and thus needs to be addressed.
And then I’m sure the other very sensitive thing is experiencing a lot of theft and vandalism. They’re stealing equipment, they steal our electrical cables, our PR8 valves, our taps and our metres (Pogiso*, 2016).
Pogiso* further indicated that often times they are met with the challenge of replacing infrastructure stolen by residents instead of investing or buying new infrastructure to aid with smooth delivery of the water service. As such, this undermines the municipality’s ability to improve its service delivery. He recalled a scenario whereby residents stole cables and pipes which had to be replaced by the municipality. He further argued that this problem hits the municipality hard financially as it hinders its progress and the municipality is unable to focus on other projects but to keep going back to fix and replace what has been stolen. Furthermore, he explained that the previous water interruptions, which led to a major protest, were brought out by this issue of vandalism. He indicated that residents had broken valves at the water purification plant in Brits and, as such, water was cut.
However, residents hold a contradictory view which is also supported by officials from the government, including Mrs Edna Molewaxi who, after investigations,xii concluded that those valves were intentionally sabotaged not vandalised. Residents mentioned that they are a very peaceful community and they would not vandalise their own property and later blame the municipality for it. The explanation by residents makes sense, what do they stand to gain by stealing and vandalising property that is actually meant to assist them with service delivery and which is one of their priorities?. In this regard, residents maintained that corruption in the municipality led to pipes being sabotaged.
Following this detailed discussion, it is evident that water and sanitation is at the forefront of the challenges expressed by both Mothutlung residents and officials. From the general overview of service delivery in Mothutlung under MLM, it is also clear that the protest that
110 | P a g e erupted in the area was not over services in general, since the municipality seems to be performing fairly well with other services, but water interruptions in particular. Therefore, owing to the thread of argument developed in this dissertation, I concur with Alexander (2010) that not all protests are service delivery protests, even though they may be over some aspects relating to the former. Using the case of Mothutlung, people were protesting over water interruptions, municipal mal-administration and corruption involved in temporary measures devised to supply people with water. Therefore their protest should not be regarded as a service delivery protest but a community protest over water interruptions.
According to residents, water and sanitation challenges are not a new phenomenon as their water cut-offs date back to 2000/01 when they would go for days without water. As stipulated in the South African Constitution, access to water supply is a basic right of all South African citizens and nobody should be deprived of this right. Moreover, although MLM realises this human right to access water supply, an interviewed official highlighted that their main challenge hindering the realisation of this right is the leakages due to aging infrastructure (Infrastructure Dialogues Report, 2015). Additionally, the element of rapid population growth also plays a role in minimising the possibility of all residents to receive equal and constant water supply. One municipal official indicated that water supplied by the Brits water treatment plant is not sufficient to supply water to all areas falling under the municipality and, as a result, they have rolled out a project to upgrade the treatment plant so as to increase water supply to the people. However, they are still behind with their desired objective.
And the population is around 477 000, that is per the stats of 2011. So now, our intention of resolving these problems, we are upgrading our Brits water treatment plant from 60 to 80 mega litres per day. So our shortfall still exists because our master plan had indicated that by 2013 we must be having 120 ML. We are almost 3 years late/behind, so we can provide water access to all by 60 ML. In 2013, we were supposed to be in 120 Ml, so it is now 2016 and we are still at 60 and upgrading by 20 to 80 Ml. So basically we are now running short of 40 ML per day. So now this will mean we are 2 years late! (Pogiso*, 2016).
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Of significance to note is the boldness of the municipality in openly acknowledging that they are encountered with challenges while attempting to improve water services to the people, and that they are seeking and implementing ways to mitigate these challenges. However, the community does not take this into account when seeking explanations as to why they experience frequent water interruptions because the municipality is not transparent enough with them. This problem is attributable to the fact that people have no knowledge of what is going on in their municipality. They often see things happening around them without being notified. As was evident in almost all the interviews with residents, initially, they used to go for three to six days without water and they would not be informed of the expected length of the interruption. Residents maintained that they had no problem with water interruptions as they are aware that this is a global issue and that reservoirs need to be cleaned and maintained every now and then. However, they would appreciate it if their municipality informed them in time so that they could prepare for this interruption by bottling water in advance. One resident made the case that:
yes we were fighting because we would go for 5-6 days without water and then we have kids, we have things that we want to do but we cannot do if water doesn’t come out, it is dirty and not in a drinkable state (Thabang*, 2016).
To contextualise the case of Mothutlung, Meiki* provided a historical timeline of their water challenge which in line with the rest of the participants. She indicated that not only did they experience water interruptions, but their water was also contaminated. In light of the issue of contaminated water, the municipality dismissed these assertions as fallacious allegations and argued that they are trying by all means to provide clean drinkable water to the people. As such, this finding remains antagonistic as residents are arguing otherwise. What is important to note, however, is that instead of regarding their water challenge as a water interruption, people understand there to be a shortage of water in the area and hence frequent water interruptions. Meiki* reported:
Gradually service delivery declining. So what happened in 2015/2016… no, from 2010/2011, we started having a problem of contaminated water and they told us that reservoir has rust inside because is old hence the dirty water and people were complaining about the dirty water. Around 2014/2015, they introduced trucks to
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deliver water you’d find that there’s no water in our taps, I think our taps were functional in 2012. So when the problem of water cut-off intensified they adopted the system of trucks to deliver water. So we didn’t know what was happening honestly we just saw trucks in our villages and we fetched water with our bucket, up until youth discovered that those people are going each tender (Meiki*, 2016 ).
Another important aspect of this matter that arose during fieldwork is the issue of lack of sanitation in the area. As alluded to by both the municipal officials and residents, Madibeng lacks proper sanitation infrastructure as residents indicated that amongst the implications of the transition of 1994, people saw the municipality destroying some infrastructure with the intention to replace it with new ones. Residents mentioned that culverts were broken down but they have not since been repaired and this has had negative repercussions on some of the residents, particularly concerning their health. Following the above discussion, it is clear that people’s lives have not changed for the better and we can only have this attributed to the failure of our institutions to deliver services as promised to the people. Therefore, using levels of analysis provided by Pfaffe (2011), it is evident that indeed institutions have failed to improve people’s lives but afford them full participation into political matters. For instance, Suzie*, an old woman in the community reported that she has had the issue of sewage flowing into her yard and inside her house damaging her furniture and affecting her health, she narrated how the government never helped her solve this problem, despite her many efforts to report the problem to the municipality, even via the media, but nothing has helped. However, she indicated that she has faith in the newly elected councillor who is educated, young and vibrant:
I’ve seen a lot of media people coming to my house and publishing my story. I have not gotten any help because those people come here, pretend that they want to help me, only to find that they’re doing it for themselves. I am sure my story is well-known out there because it has been published several times, I would’ve loved to get help really. I remember the councillor saying that this problem of waste getting stuck in my yard is that people make abortions and even their culverts are
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useless, I’m sure you heard they talk about it at the meeting. Waste coming from the stands and Domhuises come flowing down into my yard. The things they constructed for wastewater are filled with dirt because they’re not being cleaned. They closed culverts that were constructed by the late Mangope during his term in the office. While they were blocked, they left some opened, and because we are at the bottom of the slope, water that flows into those culverts come down to us with pressure and it get stuck here. I’m not the only one suffering from this, and when it is raining I can’t even go outside because it is a mess. It’s not like I’m telling on those people, it’s just reality of what I have to go through every day. And if you can come here with your car when it is raining, your car will float on top of water. Even the previous councillor spoke at the ANC meeting saying they didn’t do anything for Mothutlung, that’s why ANC got little votes this time around, people are hurt. It’s true we are hurt as a community. But now I think I’m going to be active again because we have a young councillor, who I trust will deliver as he promised (Christopher). I’m not even afraid to speak out, I’m not even a politician, and I only participate because I stay in Mothutlung. I am a sportsperson (Suzie*, 2016).
As previously mentioned, the municipality ought to be commended for acknowledging its flaws pertaining to lack of constant water delivery to the community. What is important is that the municipality has tasked itself with implementing a project that is concerned with teaching residents how to use water efficiently and they have appointed a few people from the municipality who will be going house to house to be offering these lessons. As Pogiso* pointed out:
The municipality has taken a resolution to embark on a campaign of water conservation and water demand (Pogiso*, 2016).
However, drawing from this resolution, it seems as though this initiative only focuses on teaching the community to conserve water but does not talk about the role the municipality can play to mitigate the water challenge. For instance, they could deliver programmes to capacitate staff on how to manage this water resource better and avoid losing large amounts of water through non-revenue and also bring both stakeholders together to fight the alleged corruption and theft. This initiative will not only bring about improvement in
114 | P a g e water delivery but will also bring the municipality and the community together irrespective of their political affiliation or who contributes. It will also bridge the gap between the theory and implementation of such projects.
Drawing from Braun’s work (unpublished), it is indeed true that neither the government nor its level of service delivery can politicise people. This is evident in the case of Mothutlung, where most residents, including the Pontsho* and Suzie*, maintain that despite what is going on around them, politics is not their thing and they found themselves accidentally caught up in the politics of service delivery. So despite lack of service delivery in Mothutlung, people would rather stay far from politics and mind their own business instead of complaining about services and actively participating in local politics. What is more, the majority of respondents would not disclose their political affiliations; they would state that they are not into politics, but would explain the local politics and how one person may move from one political party to the next if they are dissatisfied with their current party. Having discussed general service delivery in Madibeng, it is fitting to discuss Madibeng’s water services provision.
As far as YesMedia is concerned, there have been minimal improvements in the water sector. However, drawing from the above evidence, performance in this sector has in fact declined drastically. For instance, similar statements stated by the interviewed residents were reiterated by one municipal official who indicated that they have various means which should ensure constant water supply to various communities. However these have not ensured that the municipality performs to its utmost capability. He mentioned that they have a contract with Rand Water to provide them with water and the municipality is responsible for purifying and supplying its people with clean drinkable water. He took us through municipal resources used to clean and supply water to villages and townships under its demarcation. He stated that:
Our resources here are categorised into three phases. We have the Brits water treatment plant, we have Brits Haartebeespoort Dam and Haartebeespoort water treatment plant. Those are the two that are providing water from the surface point of view. Then we also have the category of the boreholes - the groundwater supply where we drill holes and do some connections of boreholes and supply water to
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the houses. This category is mainly in the rural areas like villages. There are no costs involved in this groundwater supply (Pogiso*, 2016).
A bore-hole tap. Photo by Author.
Based on the above findings, from the municipality’s point of view, one would have a picture of an ideal municipality which has sufficient resources to provide users with proper water service delivery. This speaks to the arguments by Bond (2014) who questions: how is it possible that a municipality named Madibeng - A place of water, with abundant water sources is incapable of delivering constant water services to the people so much so that people even resort to protesting for the resource?. This irony certainly raises eyebrows for anyone hoping that a place with such a name should at least deliver water to the people, especially because access to this resource is a human right in the South African Constitution. The ironic name of the municipality triggers curiosity as to the factors that may be contributing to poor water service delivery. Understanding the root causes of this problem should make it possible to devise measures to mitigate these challenges.
Having explored service delivery within the municipality, it is also crucial to explore the story of why it is difficult for the municipal water unit to deliver water according to residents’ wishes, even though it has sufficient water resources. This dissertation is fundamental as it intends to outline the root causes affecting the water sector in Madibeng. Challenges occurring along the way are seldom communicated to residents, hence misunderstandings often occur as far as service delivery is concerned. However as one participant indicated, even though it seems like communication is broken at the local level, that is not the case (Ditebogo*, 2016). He argues that lack of communication from the
116 | P a g e municipality pertaining to water interruptions comes a from lack of communication from the entity that supplies water to the municipality – in this case, Rand Water (Ditebogo*, 2016). Consequently, that is where misunderstandings between the community and their local municipality are born. Challenges experienced by the municipality in attempting to deliver water and challenges experienced by residents will be explored in the following section.
Water quality and tariffs
Having explored the issues of service delivery in the area, it seems as though the specific outcry is that of water interruptions. While conducting fieldwork, we were invited to attend one of the community meetings which saw attendance of honourable officials including the current councillor, the mayor and the MEC. During the meeting, people were granted the opportunity to raise their concerns and list them as they would wish to be prioritised when projects are being rolled out. Issues of housing and electricity were not listed as top priorities but water and sanitation were. People have electrified RDP houses and some have built their own houses. The main problem in the area is with regards to water and sanitation. It appears that not only does the community complain about water interruptions but also its poor quality as well.
Issues affecting the water and sanitation sector include lack of access, interruptions and poor quality of these services. Although water quality in MLM, according to the blue drop scorexiii for the municipality, increased from 36.72 in 2011 to 57.93 in 2012 to 2014, people on the ground report that their water is of poor quality and it is not suitable for human consumption. They mention that, although it may appear clean, it does not smell nor taste good and sometimes it will have fungal particles inside. Having looked at the LGH by YesMedia from 2013 to years to 2017, it is shocking that MLM had not reported on the blue drop test since 2015 to date. As such, it is questionable whether their argument of improved water quality is indeed true or just a fallacy.
The implication of the issue of water quality is that is has caused a divide between those who can afford to buy water from local shops and those who are compelled to drink contaminated water. This notion of division was presented by Boelens and Davilla (1998: 447 in Miranda et al., 2011) when he argued that water is a powerful tool which can be
117 | P a g e used to divide and further exacerbate the division between those who can and cannot afford clean water. This notion is perfectly portrayed in Mothutlung where there is a divide between those who can afford to buy bottled water and those who cannot which in most cases leave those who consume this contaminated water sick. Some even went to the extremes of buying a water purification machine. Residents mentioned that water in the area is not of good quality and that there has been cases where people were admitted to hospital for drinking contaminated water. One resident further indicated that:
We buy water. And those who can’t afford to buy it, we don’t know. Uhm, from what I’ve already heard, there’s a large number of people who have been admitted in hospital because of this water. And then uhm, that’s the problem, a very serious problem of water that we have here in Mothutlung (Kgopotso*, 2016).
The above resident owns a mini dry cleaning company and mentioned that he needs water so that his business can continue running smoothly. As such, he has decided to use the water he buys in 25 litres for consumption and cooking, then water coming from the municipality will be used for his business and gardening. Furthermore, he indicated that he bought a water purification machine to clean his water since the water is contaminated and not good for consumption:
Yah eish..eish I feel like I’m wasting my money, throwing it at a wrong place. And where I wasn’t supposed to take it actually. And then like, as I’ve said, I’m only paying for it so I can be able to water my garden and plants”. And then okay…I’m not buying it for consumption no no! We use it for laundry and garden”. And even now, I can show you the water I bought. What hurts me again is that I bought a machine to purify water, and I bought a small container for the machine which is 10litres by mistake, we also use that water from the machine to cook and I also go to Oasis in town to buy water. I buy water in 25 litres. Even now I have 1 times 25litres in the fridge and about 10litres that we use in the house even for drinking (Kgopotso*, 2016).
The primary concern of Kgopotso is to have clean drinking water for his family. He even went to extremes of buying a water purifying machine. What bothers him is that not only does he have to pay to access water but to also clean it as well. Having heard cases of
118 | P a g e people being admitted to hospital with a running stomach, Kgopotso* strives by all means to ensure that his family does not drink contaminated water. While some residents are vigilant in observing precautionary measures, others have no choice but to drink this water even though they know about its implications. Amongst those who drink this water, some complain that it has particles underneath while others report being used to it, despite the likelihood of getting sick. One resident further argued that he has been drinking this water all his life and it has never made him sick, therefore he believes that peoples’ bodies are different and react differently to the same things. As such, he maintained that he will keep drinking it until it makes him sick because he cannot afford to buy bottled water (Pontsho*, 2016).
In addition to issues of lack of water access and contaminated water, residents complained about the municipality serving them with water bills each and every month even when they are dissatisfied with the water quality. What is more, the majority of the residents are still trapped in their historical debtsxiv of services to the municipality. Historically, the transition from the Bophuthatswana government to a democratic state saw the majority of the population in Madibeng inheriting their debts which are still outstanding to date. This debt accumulated as a result of non-payment of services by residents during the struggle against the Bantustan government of the late Mr Mangope. People’s refusal to pay for services was their way of boycotting the late Mangope’s government. As such, people had anticipated starting from scratch with the new government, with no historical debts attached to their names. However, people were met with the reality of their debts when they were confronted with invoices stipulating how much they owed. Some reported that they owed thousands of rand since this money accumulates interest every month.
When one of the residents was asked what the transition of 1994 meant to him and the community in general, he indicated that people expected more. This is primarily because people were promised more. He stated:
People expected more!! Because after 1994, when we have a new government, so we expect… if it’s a new government, it means we must start everything from scratch. When coming to water, we understand about the issue of Eskom and their crisis, but
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when coming to water, please clear our debts and start afresh, nothing has happened! That’s what worries us a lot we just ask them, we understand that you didn’t clear our debt but you’re still using the apartheid pipe, sewage since democracy we’ve never experienced anything new related to water and sanitation in our township. Even if it’s raining. Water is just flowing all over the township! But they can claim that they’ve built… you know on this report they claim that at Mothutlung/Damonsville during 2003, they built a sewage system but they were claiming just so that they can utilize money. That’s why I say, they Kleptrocacy system! (Michael*, 2016).
An example of a water bill from one of the residents who was interviewed. Picture by Author.
According to the residents of Mothutlung, they expected that their debts be cleared, particularly that of water because the municipality is still using infrastructure built during the apartheid regime. To this day, residents are calling for their debts to be removed. However, although some have been reduced to reasonable figures, others are still calling
120 | P a g e for their grievances to be heardxv. In addition to these debts, people are given monthly bills, therefore this debt keeps accumulating. From what I have gathered, each and every house has a meter and every month there are people going house to house reading meters and taking the readings to the municipality to generate water bills. What is shocking, and perhaps invites further exploration, is the fact that residents indicated that their meters are old, some are damaged making it impossible to read the numbers, and others are trapped inside the soil but they receive water bills nonetheless. The major concern for the community is what it is that they are actually paying; there appear to be faults with meters and their readings are incorrect, culminating in unreasonably high rates for water. To synthesize residents’ concerns, Kgopotso* indicated that he was confused with how this system of reading metres works:
I feel like those people who take readings are not doing their job because I’ve never see anyone taking any readings from my metre. And then our metre is covered in soil I’ll show you just now and then I even went to report that my metre is covered in soil but I am shocked where they get my readings because my metre is underground. And the explanation I got is that they rate their benchmark with my old readings before it got covered they took an average. And then I ask how possible this was if there is no one in the house for the whole month (meaning there’s no one using water) so this means I’ll still have to pay because of that old average. This would mean I’m paying for water we did not use. And then I feel like in Mothutlung most of the metres are covered in oil and I’m not the only with this problem of the metre! (Kgopotso*, 2016).
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This picture is a water meter in Mothutlung. It is used to take readings thus generate bills for the residents. Picture by Author.
The issue with meters in Mothutlung is very complicated as, although some report that they are being overcharged, others report that the readings are wrong as it is almost impossible to read these meters because they are covered in soil. At the same time, others report that these bills are being generated from nothing because there is no one who comes to read their meters. Indeed the metering system of Mothutlung is faulty because (as depicted in the picture above), this meter is scratched and it is impossible to read numbers on it Nonetheless, the household receives their bill every month. When they went to consult, their historical debt was reduced. It is therefore crucial to ask questions about why people pay for water even when they know that the system of billing them is faulty. Whose problem is it that the billing system is faulty; and what is the municipality doing about this problem? As such, some people refuse to pay for water. However, some indicated that they only pay when they have money and if they do not have it, then they do not bother themselves:
No, nobody is paying for water in Mothutlung because they believe that why we should they pay for water while is not clean. Basically they’re saying it has never been clean so now they stopped paying because they were paying but nothing
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was being done so, that’s how they automatically stopped paying their rate as a standoff. Everybody is not paying their waters rate (Orapeleng*, 2016).
It was reported that pensioners only pay R100 a month. People’s concern is that, even when they pay for water they are still told that water is dirty because the municipality cannot afford to buy chemicals to clean the water. This then leaves the majority of the community with the question as to where their money goes if it does not fund improvements in their services. What makes it easier for people to boycott paying for services is that there are no appropriate systems to punish people for non-payment, except accumulation of debt which might be reduced as time goes by. Under the old Bophuthatswana regime, defaulting on payment would have repercussions like evictions and or even water cut-offs until you settle your outstanding balance.
According to one resident who was born and raised in Mothutlung, the issue of water in the area is not a new phenomenon as they have had it for a long time, even when they were still young (Osiame*, 2016). Several interviewees revealed that although the community used to complain about water in the previous years, Mothutlung was a peaceful community prior to the major protest of 2014. Initially, the community would go without water for two to three days or even two weeks as they experienced frequent interruptions. Water would only come at night when people are sleeping and in the morning when you open the tap, the tap would be dry. They would still be expected to pay their water bills even though their meters are not operational. Residents complain that they would not be informed about these interruptions and this would be frustrating for them because they need water to bath, cook, and flush their toilets:
Yes we do. Every month they call us at the office, to write how we’re going to pay for water. So for us older people, we pay R100 every month. But now sometimes we don’t have it. The meter outside the gate has been non-operational for years, even before my son passed away. They issued are a slip recently showing that I owe a thousands of rands, but I wonder when do they got these reading because the meter does not work how do you read this water? I told them that if I have money I’ll keep paying those R100s and as for the other amount, I’m not going to entertain it. So on Bra Mike’s passing, he was approaching his second month
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as a pensioner, but he passed away. So because we had a tough upbringing, our parents working at the farms they did not give birth to clinical/hospital. As you can see, we’re shocked that where do those huge amount of money come from (she showed us the receipt). While they made us right to pay R100 every month, they even took copies of our identity document, sometimes we skip month, because we don’t have money to pay. I even owe my funeral parlour because Bra Mike used to help me, I haven’t been able to go and pay, I’m waiting for pay-day which is on the 30th (Masego*, 2017).
Below is a picture which was shown on national television, showing a group of Mothutlung residents queuing at the local community borehole pump with their buckets to fetch water. It paints a picture of how people used to survive when the taps inside their yard went dry.
The community of Mothutlung queuing for water at a local borehole pump. Photo by Google photos.
In addition to queuing for water at a local borehole, other alternatives to accessing water include fetching water from a local mine, (Vametco) because even though taps would run dry, the mines never run short of water. This certainly depicts a typical picture of unequal distribution of water between sectors, something which is arguably a reality for each and every community with a local mine because mines pay more than residents for their consumption (Mnwana, 2011). However, this is not allowed by the South African constitution. Although the issue of unequal water allocation across sectors is fundamental and interesting, it is another broad dimension which calls for a separate enquiry in future research.
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Some residents have friends or relatives in the neighbouring villages and use their vehicles or wheelbarrows to fetch water outside Mothutlung. When they were asked about boreholes, residents indicated that they have only about three borehole pumps in the whole township and that the municipality does not permit residents to bore their own holes in the yards:
They don’t allow us to boreholes because they argue that we have small yards in the township and we won’t be able to extend. That’s the reason they gave me when I went to consult. But I was dissatisfied with it honestly because once you buy a stand, you know what are your plans with it, like when and how do I want to extend then I know where I will bore a hole. Even the laws from the municipal that we don’t know about, a person is not supposed to bore a hole in the yard especially in the township (Kgopotso*, 2016).
Owing to these recurring water interruptions since 2001, anger and frustration built up on the side of the residents which saw the municipality responding with the tankering system as a “temporary” solution to water interruptions. Tankering is a system in which water is delivered to the people at the selected corners of the community in tanks. From the municipal officials’ point of view, this system was a way to ensure that people had access to water while the municipality works on fixing the broken valves and replacing old infrastructure. However, residents argued that this was not the case and that the officials only cared about profiting from this system at their expense. There seems to be an interesting insight into the tankering system as there are two contradicting sides to one story. On the one hand, officials argue that valves at the water purification plant were broken due to theft and vandalism by some residents (Pogiso, 2017). On the other hand, residents argue that the valves were not broken but intentionally sabotaged by the officials so that their tankering business can continue to be operational. Interestingly, formal investigations into the matter by the former Minister of Water Affairs revealed that the valves were not broken but intentionally tampered with (Edna Molewa, quoted on Pretoria news, 15 Jan 2014: 1). This then raises the question as to who would have the motive of benefiting from the broken pumps?
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In light of these allegations, irrespective of evidence from the investigation, the municipal manager dismissed the assertions by the community as fallacious claims intended to disrupt the functioning of the municipality. This follows the inability of the community members to provide names of those they accuse of engaging in corruption through the tankering system. From the interviews conducted with the Mothutlung community, it is evident that although the burning issue which led to the protest was the frustration over water interruptions and deteriorating water quality, what really triggered the people to take to the streets was discovering the existence of corruption in the tankering system. Residents indicated that they chased away these trucks in the area and even threatened to burn them. Amongst the people killed in the protest was Rahube, who was leading the struggle towards ending the tankering system in the area. It was reported by the majority of the interviewees that Rahube had threatened to burn the trucks if they forcibly entered Mothutlung. This phenomenon will be explored in detail in the following section.
People queuing to fetch water from the water tanks. Photo by Thapelo Lekgowa.
My analysis of the situation in Madibeng-Mothutlung, like many other municipalities experiencing the same problem, such as Nkomazi in Mpumalanga, is that there is a tendency for both the municipal officials and the residents to undermine service delivery at a local level. What we see happening at a national level in terms of poor service provision nationwide, false promises and high levels of corruption is also evident at a local level. For instance, people are promised a better life but, instead, are met with empty promises. In the case of Madibeng, what we see is a situation in which the municipality is not incapable of delivering services but there are individuals who use their authority and
126 | P a g e greed to undermine the capacity of the municipality to supply constant water to the people. To answer the question posed by Bond (2014), it is not that Madibeng is incapable of delivering good quality services to the people; some of the factors undermining its capacity include maladministration, lack of communication, corruption and greediness. These factors may be evident in rendering of tenders as well as lack of accountability whereby no one wants to take full responsibility for the mess created. Therefore, one would argue that, in addition to the historical legacies that continue to haunt Madibeng, a lack of substantive and representative democracy (Doherty and Mecellem: 2012), coupled with greed and corruption, makes the municipality volatile and incapable of delivering services to its utmost capacity.
On the other hand, we have some community members who put too much pressure on the available water, misusing and overexploiting it by using it excessively (Hedden and Cilliers, 2014; Chief Liquidity Series, 2009 and draft White Paper on Water Services, 2002; Ximena, 2011 cited on Miranda et al. 2011). This is certainly in line with Dialogues Report (2015), which argues that people do not understand value of water. As long as they have it today, it does not matter what happens tomorrow and they, in turn, blame the government when they also contribute in overexploitation of this resource. For instance, some would use it for watering their gardens and flowers while others have informal businesses like a car wash or laundry companies where they wash and iron laundry for other people to make a living. Owing to the above analysis, it is fundamental to explore all the avenues that may constitute the root causes of poor water delivery, even if unconscious or unintended. The above analysis also shows that some factors may be internal or a result of our own doing, yet we fail to acknowledge them maybe because we want to put the responsibility on the next person instead of owning up to them.
4.1.8 Contentions in poor water service delivery
Having explored the general service delivery of the municipality and narrowing the discussion down to municipality’s performance regarding water service delivery, it is fundamental to consider debates surrounding the reasons behind its underperformance. Although that there have been improvements in the delivery of other services, the
127 | P a g e municipality has been slacking with delivery of the water resource. This section examines the reasons behind this.
Aging infrastructure
According to Pogiso* (2016), some of the challenges experienced in ensuring constant supply of the water resource include the problem of aging infrastructure. This problem featured in almost all the interviews conducted with both residents and some municipal officials. As such, that the majority of interviewees considered aging infrastructure as the primary factor contributing to poor performance of the municipality’s water sector. Similar arguments are brought forward by Hedden and Cilliers (2014) who argue that the water sector is underperforming mainly because of old infrastructure and lack of maintenance, as well as deteriorating water quality. Pogiso* indicated that they still use infrastructure that was built during the period of Mr Mangope because they seldom have sufficient budget to maintain or even replace the current infrastructure. Another thing that the municipality is struggling with is capacitating their staff and equipping them with relevant skills required in water management.
In essence, Hedden and Cilliers (2014) and Algotsson and Murombo (2009) argue that the problem of aging infrastructure arises due to poor management and maintenance of the available infrastructure. This is true in the case of Mothutlung because the infrastructure currently being utilised was constructed during the Bophuthatswana era and maintenance is seldom done by the municipality. Due to this, infrastructure develops rust and is easily broken, hindering the smooth delivery of services. Moreover, damages in infrastructure contribute to what is known as non-revenue water (Dialogues Report, 2015). As outlined in the quote by Pogiso* below, he maintains that the municipality loses most of its water through burst pipes and leakages due to impaired infrastructure. Again, some residents refuse to pay for the water service, which can also be regarded as lost water because it is neither accounted nor paid for. In his statement, Pogiso* mentioned that:
The infrastructure we have is categorised as aging because it has been there for more than 50 years. We have got an aging infrastructure. So that on its own contributes to the shortfall of water delivery. Again, we cannot supply constant
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water because we experience a lot of water leakages (pipe bursts), and the water that is going down the stream without our knowledge. Another important thing is that currently Madibeng is experiencing serious massive challenges of the skills pertaining the workforce. Erh…there’s no skills, there’s no qualified engineer, we also experience challenges of capacitating our stuff. It’s a serious challenge. We don’t have programmes to capacitate our stuff (Pogiso*, 2016).
Their argument on aging infrastructure is an interesting finding as there is a consensus between the two stakeholders that they are experiencing water challenges due to the fact that they have old infrastructure which lacks maintenance. Therefore, through this consensus it is only ideal for both stakeholders to sit down and devise measures to resolve this issue going forward. Although aging infrastructure is the leading factor, other contributing factors include lack of capacitated staff and corruption.
Lack of capacitated staff in the municipality
Secondly, as mentioned by Pogiso* (2016), Madibeng’s water sector is underperforming because it lacks capacitated staff to ensure the smooth operation of this sector. His aspiration is to develop programs that will aid with capacitating their staff. He argued that the infrastructure and technical service directorate lack trained engineers, indicating that they only have one engineer who is actually an intern in the municipality. He further stated that he is an engineer himself but holds the manager position in this sector. As such, he is unable to perform all duties. Pogiso* maintains with confidence that the water problem is not due to problems with funding but capacity, as he outlined various funding mechanisms for the municipality
As such, it is evident that the municipality has more than enough funding to push all the programmes it seeks to roll out so as to ensure the smooth delivery of water services. His main concern was brain drain – that most qualified engineers come to poor local municipalities like Madibeng for their internships but, once they have gained experience, seek jobs in metros which have money and leave these poor municipalities stranded. Furthermore, he indicated that the municipality has no programmes to capacitate the remaining staff in the municipality. Therefore the prospects of solving this problem do not look promising. However, Mothutlung residents complained about a different issue. They
129 | P a g e indicated that the municipality is underperforming because they tend to give out projects and tenders to their friends and relatives or even people from the outside, who have no experience to do such jobs on their own. They allege that most of the community members have qualifications to do certain jobs but are never given the opportunity to do the work. It seems as though this issue of capacitating staff can be addressed by recruiting from local communities instead of outsourcing interns who seek to gain experience and leave the municipality stranded.
The reality is that the contractor hired people who are not from Mothutlung and took only a few here just to bribe us. And then each and every cluster received something like R 12 000 000 from water and sanitation. But people like us who own companies and youth of Mothutlung are not even benefitting, it’s hard for us and we’re even sub-contractor at water and sanitation (Thabang*, 2017)
Similar sentiments were expressed by Meiki* who stated that tenders are given to incompetent people when the locals have the required skills and knowledge for the job. This issue of awarding tenders by names also adds to the problem of corruption within the municipality, discussed in the subsequent section.
The problem with Mothutlung is allocation of tenders concerning service delivery, tender are given to people not equipped to do the work, look at their drainage system, you can’t even get inside the yard with your car. They also look for cheap service from their friends, hence we don’t see service delivery, I’m talking things you can see (Meiki*, 2017). Corruption
It is well known that the municipality was placed under administration for mismanagement of funds prior to the protest of 2014. Therefore, residents allege that their municipality is corrupt and dishonest towards its people. For instance, they complained that their municipality is not transparent as they have no idea what is happening in the municipality, nor how the funds are being utilised. In one case, they argue that the way in which houses are allocated is illegal and tenders are awarded to relatives and family. One elderly resident claimed that if the government tasked itself with going around Mothutlung and investigating the authenticity of some of the occupants of the RDP houses, the majority
130 | P a g e of the residents would lose their homes. This is after she indicated that outsiders, particularly those who work for the local mines, actually buy houses from officials. This is an illegal practice because the rightful inhabitants of those houses remain houseless or even rent out shacks. She stated that their current government hates the truth and if they realise that you are educated, they chase you because you might expose their dodgy businesses. When she was asked to elaborate further on this point, she said:
Yes! And Mamabitsela (one of the former councillors) was a straightforward person, even these RDPs we got them through her as she was encouraging us to register for them instead of recruiting people from outside. These people don’t even have title deeds and you ought to occupy your RDP for five years before you obtain is full ownership (Johannah*, 2016).
She added:
If the government could thoroughly look at this issue of housing, they will find all the truth and people will stop doing all the wrong things. Others are renting out their RDP houses (Johannah*, 2016).
From the above quotes, it is evident that corruption in house dealings is not only done by officials through allocations, but is also amplified by residents on the ground as they recruit outsiders, particularly friends and family, to apply for these free RDP houses and some even go to the extent of renting them to people who desperately need houses. This problem is not unique to Mothutlung; it is a nationwide problem and it has been reported several times that such corruption should be reported. The renting out of these shelters occurs in instances where, for example, an individual has already built a house but applied for an RDP. When the RDP house comes through they rent it out because they do not need it. What is more, outsiders get these RDP houses by simply using a local address belonging to someone who is a resident in Mothutlung. This scenario is similar to that whereby people use a local address in order to be employed in a local firm or mine, even when they are an outsider – a trend which is increasing at an alarming rate.
Corruption in the water sector occurred through the tankering system which was implemented as a temporary measure to aid in water interruptions. According to one
131 | P a g e resident, “tankeringxvi is the biggest politic of Madibeng”, so much so that it led to evident conflicts between the residents and some of the officials believed to be tenderpreneurs. Residents maintain that those municipal officials generated a lot of income through this initiative but, sadly, it was for their own personal accumulation and the municipality did not benefit at all. As residents stated, these trucks belonged to certain municipal officials and they were contracted by the municipality to deliver water to the people. This did not sit well with the youth of Mothutlung since they had discovered that the whole process was corrupt. This finding is interesting as one would think that tankering is a project by the municipality (as argued by the municipal manager) to meet the needs of the people, only to find that it has nothing to do with the well-being of the people but capital accumulation by those officials. The municipal manager dismissed this as fictitious allegations by the residents. In an interview with Thabang*, a local resident, he mentioned:
…As you know about our water shortage, the municipality decided to deliver water to Mothutlung in trucks. And then the issue we had as a community was that these trucks belonged to people working at the municipality. For instance, work at the municipality and buy a truck so I can be contracted to deliver water to the community. Corruption then took place with this system because they were making a lot of money by delaying fixing our pipes so that the tankering system can continue. In the process, they delay fixing our pipes so that their trucks can continue working and making money. So, that is where the problem started (Thabang*, 2016).
Another resident added that what was more problematic with this system is that these truck owners would still get paid even when they did not deliver water to the people because the contract was dodgy. Moreover, it seems as though there were no systems in place to monitor and evaluate the performance of these trucks as some residents reported not receiving this water on several occasions. The manner in which people understand this issue varies greatly across all age groups, with the youth possessing most knowledge in this regard. This conclusion was reached following a large number of respondents reporting that the youth tasked themselves with investigating the story of
132 | P a g e these trucks and informed the community about their findings. The majority of the elders report on this issue having been briefed by the youth. This is visible in the manner in which they respond: they seldom report in their own voices but often add to the speculation, or even attest to it, by using phrases like “apparently” and “alleged”. The community later reached a consensus to chase these trucks away from the community, even if it meant going for a few more days without water. One elderly resident, when asked what she understood about tankering and water delivery in their community, stated:
Apparently, there was corruption in the whole process. I.e. Let’s say you have the trucks to deliver water, even if you don’t deliver water to us and throw the water in the bush, you’ll still get your salary, these trucks belonged to people who had a dodgy contract with municipality. Those who know, went to check at the reservoir and discover that there is nothing wrong with the pipes etc. The valve was being tampered with so that water can stop running and truck business can progress. Hence the protest which claimed a number of lives. I don’t know whether they used rubber bullet or not but, usually, police fire rubber bullet you understand? Edna Molewa even visited our community to come and tell us they will no longer deliver water with trucks, they collect this water at Matlapeng, just outside of Mothutlung. We don’t know what kind of water they get for us, so Molewa said we must no longer drink that water and that they must stop bringing it to us, she said she will get us water from somewhere, I forgot the place thereof (Johannah*, 2016).
Therefore, after a long review and engagements with all the respondents, it is clear that indeed corruption is a feature in the municipality but it should be noted that it is both a top-down and bottom-up process. Municipal officials could not fulfil this kind of corruption on their own as they would have to hire people on the ground to drive those trucks, either local residents or even their friends who are not local residents. Moreover, it remains to be discovered whether those trucks were registered under municipal officials’ names or whether they fronted to avoid accusation of nepotism. In general, municipal officials would not be allowed to enter into contracts with the municipality, hence they would need to register those trucks with someone else. Another form of corruption is evidenced in the
133 | P a g e manner in which residents deal with the housing issue. It is for the same reason that I argue that there is a tendency for both residents and the municipality to undermine the capacity of the state to deliver services to the people, even though some of these processes occur in an unconscious state of mind.
The previous sections have dealt with challenges in the water sector, as well as factors that contribute to or exacerbate these challenges. The following section looks at the means by which both the stakeholders attempted to address the challenges experienced in the water sector, particularly with regards to interruptions and poor quality.
4.1.9 Measures to improve water service delivery
Tankering system
Prior to going into the field, I had no knowledge of tankering, or at least of its existence. The findings regarding tankering were therefore particularly interesting, especially because residents defined it in a consistent manner. According to the residents of Mothutlung, corruption began during the period of tankering and it remains a big issue in the area as it is the primary reason that the community lost four of its residents. Out of curiosity, I asked the residents to explain tankering and the processes involved in it as it was a new concept to me. A definition provided by one of the residents goes as follows:
Tankering is when there is a shortage of water and we have a number of people who have companies and trucks (they have been given these trucks), when there is a shortage, the trucks starts running and per trip they rate (I don’t fully understand this but I will verify because there are so many reports around it) around R40 000. Don’t you know about that? That’s what killed people (There is a report on tankering that Josta and myself broke down to the community to make them understand everything about tankering and its corruption). The ministers didn’t understand why people were angry to such an extent of being killed by police. People close to the previous mayor, the contractors were given lorries/tankers. So this people, it was a deliberate move to close the pipes and to break down all those pipes so that the tankers can benefit. Do you understand? So they were making millions (Pontsho*, 2016).
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Similar sentiments are shared by interviewed residents of Mothutlung with regards to the tankering system. This is perhaps because the above is a quote by one of the people who brought the news to the community. As such, the community came up with a resolution to chase away these tankers and to never allow them back into the community as they do not care about them but instead enrich themselves at the expense of people on the ground. Although the community holds onto this belief that tankering brought nothing but exacerbated corruption in the municipality, the municipal manager maintains that this initiative was for the good of the people and that they should not go without water while the pipes are being fixed. On one of the videos from YouTube, the municipal manager dismissed the community’s allegations as untrue, maintaining that he had pleaded with the community that whoever has information or evidence pertaining to this issue must come forward. Apparently, no one was brave enough to bring evidence to the manager’s attention.
As matters stand, it remains the residents’ word against that of municipal officials, but Mrs Edna Molewa concluded after an investigation into the matter that valves have been purposely tampered with and therefore arrests would be made because there were finger prints on the pipes and valves. Therefore, it remains debatable whether this initiative was to benefit the people or to accumulate more capital from this unfortunate event. However, what is more clear is that the youth did manage to chase these trucks away from the community and it was mentioned that one of the men who was killed during a protest once threatened to burn the trucks if they continued entering Mothutlung. It is fundamental to emphasise these points as they reflect the views of both residents and municipal officials, as well as the investigators including Mrs Molewa as to what actually happened at the water treatment plant and led to water interruptions.
Indeed, a publicly held belief that tankering is actually what killed the people of Mothutlung may hold true. How else can we explain why prominent leaders in the struggle against tankering were killed? Bra Mike, who was shot and died right on the spot was the cameraman who was seen taking pictures of the damaged valves and reported back to the community that the valves were intentionally sabotaged. His camera has since been
135 | P a g e missing from the scene. Another example is that of Rahube, who apparently was killed for threatening to burn the trucks should they enter Mothutlung again.
They [truck owners] made million out of those trucks. So this came to that major protest, youth decided that they won’t allow those trucks to enter the village anymore because this affect us more as they are not fixing anything, they’re only focusing on making money from the whole thing while we suffer for years and years and they become richer and richer. Like we not going to receive those services that we need. So, the whole problem is that those people are giving each other tenders for example, even that of rubbish collection, water etc.… They give these tender to each other based on comradesmaship/comradeship, if you’re our comrade you’re going to get a tender for something. So during the strike, it began on the 12th January 2016 (Sunday), people started singing and. And on Monday, throughout there was a vigil you could hear that people are singing. On Monday morning around 5 AM, Tshegofatso and I woke up from hearing the singing (Tshegofatso* is Lerato’s sister), went and joined the protest where we found our current councillor (Chris) and Rahube (the late), we were mobilizing and we started being active. Unfortunately we left. And a mass of people come out, more than 10000 of people participated (Meiki*, 2016).
As much as the community believe that tankering is what might have led to death of their people, I am of the view that corruption has long existed in the municipality way before establishment of the tankering system. This is after it was discovered that people on the ground have no idea what is happening in their municipality. As Meiki highlighted, people did not know what was going on and only saw trucks entering their township and delivering water at designated corners. If corruption is a new phenomenon in the municipality, why would the municipality be placed under provincial administration twice in a period of just under ten years? It would be a mistake to dismiss the argument that corruption in Madibeng municipality, like many other municipalities, has a historical component and that this was not merely a once off event. This is to say, although some incidents of corruption have gone unnoticed in the municipality in the past, Madibeng has attracted considerable attention following subsequent scandals, so much so that even
136 | P a g e officials in the municipality accept being branded as “a corrupt municipality” (Sifile, 2014: 1).
Purchasing bottled water
During water interruptions, the municipality introduced the tankering system to provide people with water. Others depended on water from their local mine or went to places as far as Ga-Rankuwa to fetch water from relatives. While some people depended on water from the neighbouring boreholes, others opted to buying bottled water because it is clean, constant and they can afford to buy it, unlike those who had no choice but to drink contaminated water when the supply returned. As the quote below indicates, people believe that the state has failed them and that, at the end of the day, they must explore other avenues to ensure that they have water, even if it means buying it or travelling long distances. The problem now is, what about those who cannot afford to buy nor travel long distances to get water? Kgopotso*, when asked whether they pay the mines to get water, stated:
No, it is free! We take our cars to form a very long queue [water from the mine]. The people who are struggling in this regard are those without cars and then, if there is no water all over and we have received notice about it (like when they are cleaning the reservoir) and then maybe we need to do laundry etc., I go to Rankuwa to fetch water in Tshwane, its clean and better compared to our own water. I go to my cousin with 20 litres to fetch water, I take my van uhm, and truly speaking our water situation is not something that can be solved now as long as we still have our corrupt municipality! Our municipality is actually the cause of all of these, it is failing us (Kgopotso*, 2016).
Mothutlung residents indicated that they do pay for water but share concerns that they pay for a service that they are not happy about. Perhaps the take-away from this situation is the growing trend of a division between those who can afford to buy bottled water and those who cannot. Access to water is also affected by people’s distance from the mine or boreholes and whether they can afford to hire cars to fetch water or have nearby relatives from whom they can fetch water. As such, this situation further disadvantages those who
137 | P a g e are already disadvantaged and causes unnecessary tension amongst peaceful community members.
4.1.10 Addressing the question of democracy within the municipality
At the local level, people do not differentiate between substantive, participatory and representative forms of democracy. Doherty and Mecellem (2012) note that many people define democracy in terms of its substantive outcomes which include mitigating wealth inequality and improving provision of economic goods and services. Parallel to the above authors is Runciman (2016), who argues that people usually measure the level of democracy by the level of services they receive from their municipality.
This means that, apart from democracy being understood through the lens of electoral emancipation as the rule of the people by the people, democracy is usually measured by its level of substantive outcomes. Using this theorisation to develop a case for Mothutlung, it should be remembered that, prior to the overthrow of the apartheid government, people were promised a “better life for all”. Yet, looking at the situation of Mothutlung today, what is better about being unemployed and having to fight for access to water services? What is better about people dying for what is stipulated in the constitution as a human right? The answer remains the same: people’s lives have not improved for the better. As such, people state that there is no democracy mainly because they receive poorer services than they anticipated.
Although the majority of the respondents tend to look at the concept of democracy through the lens of rights they have, one of the residents reminds us that these rights should be accompanied by responsibility – something we seldom acknowledge. He defined the concept of democracy using the context of a household, arguing that times have changed and that things are messed up now since kids have rights but choose to ignore the responsibility accompanying those rights. He maintained that people should learn to be grateful for the little they have. Even though it is not exactly what they have been promised, things could have been worse than how they are now (Kgopotso*, 2016).
In addition, Aragone`s and Sa´nchez-Page´ (2009) envision that a community with participatory democracy is a community in which the electorate have the power to elect
138 | P a g e their leaders, express their opinions and monitor politicians’ performance by simply comparing their promises to the policies that were actually implemented. In addition, the electorate is afforded the opportunity to contribute as well as hold their leadership to account if things are not done to their satisfaction. In Mothutlung, residents indicated that sometimes leadership is imposed on them or their opinions are not taken seriously, even though they are noted down in the meetings. Residents indicated that they were satisfied with the leadership they voted for in the 2016 Local Government elections. With all that being said, it is fundamental to highlight that although some respondents argue that there is democracy in Mothutlung, others are critical of its quality.
And then in the household, we can’t discipline our own children because of a thing called abuse. It’s not like I am promoting abuse, but kids need a beating/hiding in order to discipline them. Because of these right, when you start guiding your children, they tell you that you lived your life the way you wanted and now you want to control theirs, when your main concern is their future! Our democracy brought many things, both good and bad. Kore (Like) in short, our democracy is good but we abuse it! (Kgopotso*, 2016).
Although most of the respondents reflect on the downside of democracy, one resident actually sang praises of the current democracy, arguing that it is good and that things are better compared to the apartheid era. He made reference to democracies of other countries to argue that South African democracy is the best compared to other democracies across the globe. He cautioned that there is nothing wrong with our Constitution and democracy; instead, people are abusing democracy and later blame it for all the bad things that are happening, hence the majority would feel like democracy is non-existent. Arguably, people abuse democracy by using it even in unnecessary scenarios. For instance, children have now forgotten their place at home because they now have rights and, if you discipline them, law is on their side. A resident who was happy with the democracy stated that:
Our democracy today is so good, is so good. And then, where it is good, if you can look at our constitution, our democracy is the best worldwide. Bur we know that every good thing is accompanied by bad things! And then, most of this rights we
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have, bring with them many bad things. E.g. even criminals now have rights (Ditebogo*, 2016).
In contrast to the notion that democracy is non-existent in Mothutlung, one resident indicated that they never used to have democracy and only now they start to enjoy the fruits of democracy like everybody else. He measures the level of democracy by looking at the treatment of people based on their race and class. This basically means that he had not enjoyed democracy because he often felt mistreated, particularly in public spaces like the police station where you would expect to get the same treatment as everybody else. As such, this finding adds another element to understanding democracy in that people do not measure democracy only by its substantive outcomes but by the treatment of and engagement between people, especially based on their skin colour and the class and/or status they occupy.
You know for me, my sister if we look at it, we’re starting to have democracy in Mothutlung. We never used to have it before, we were not living well. Coz even when you went to the police station to do something, they’d be against you, they were only based on their people and discriminated against the remaining group! Its only now we see them starting to engage with us but you n see them, from their facial expression you can tell that they’re not okay with us, they don’t want to helps us wholeheartedly. For me, I don’t see the existence of democracy because some things are only for certain group of people, like they gauge people before can help them (Tshenolo*, 2016).
The question of democracy in Mothutlung can be debated for the longest period of time since everyone has had their own experience which is not necessarily the same as that of everyone else. Actually, these discrepancies and similarities are interesting as they provide more insight into to how various people understand and experience democracy. While some feel like there is democracy in the township and it is being abused by the people, others feel like democracy does not exist at all. Amongst those who feel that democracy does not exist, some do state that they can see some changes which brings them hope that democracy is about to visit their area. Yet there are some people who see no prospects of democracy in Mothutlung unless certain things like governance and
140 | P a g e leadership are changed. One resident argued that maybe they will start speaking of democracy five years from now because, for now, things have remained the same in Mothutlung compared to newly established areas like Damonsville.
4.1.11 Engagements between the community members and their municipality
Following the Municipal Structures Act (Act 117 of 1998), Madibeng falls under the B category which is responsible for delivery of basic services such as water and sanitation. In order to enhance communication between residents from various townships and the district municipality, local municipalities were established to function as the vehicle between the two structures. Each and every local government has designated wards, ward committees and local councillors. As such, if people need to communicate with their municipality, they first approach the councillor who will then take their matters to the municipality. The councillor is responsible for overseeing that people’s needs on the ground are met and that communication between the two stakeholders is effective and constant. He/she serves as the representative of the people as is elected by the people. The councillor communicates with the people through community meetings.
In Mothutlung, community meetings are the primary means of engagement between officials and residents. People are notified of the meeting a few days beforehand using a loud hailer. Initially, people were enthusiastic about attending these meetings as it was a safe public space which was used as a platform to allow people to raise their concerns or for officials to report back to the people. The majority of the residents indicated that they hold community meetings at least once a month. Separately to this, ANC organisations also have their own meetings apart from general community meetings. Community meetings have always been used as a channel of communication between municipal officials and local residents, even during the years of the struggle with water interruptions as residents indicated that they would draft memorandums as a community and deliver them at the municipality. They would attend community meetings and even raise their grievances as well as suggestions in those meetings. However, as people noticed that their grievances fell on deaf ears at these community meetings, there was a growing trend of residents going individually to the municipal offices to complain about their issues. Residents maintain that they tried to engage their municipality on several occasions with
141 | P a g e regards to the issues they experience on daily basis, but that all that resulted from their attempts were empty promises. Subsequently, this led to the decline in the number of people attending formal meetings called by the officials, even when they heard about these meetings through loud hailing.
However, this was not the only reason for poor attendance of the meetings as some of the residents indicated that officials are very strategic when it comes to meetings and attendance. Some of them argued that, because the officials know that the youth are active and critical of what is going on around them, they deliberately set the meeting during the weekdays at the time they know that most people, particularly the youth, are at work, making it impossible for them to attend. In essence, these residents allege that calling a meeting during weekdays is a strategy to exclude some of the people from attending the meetings, particularly the youth. While some may not be able to attend these meetings due to having other commitments, one old woman who lost her son in the process indicated that she is too old to walk long distances and, as such, is unable to participate in community meetings and depends on hearsay from those who attend them. Due to the false promises made to residents in those meetings and their feeling of being managed rather than listened to, most people stopped attending the meetings. One resident stated that he does not see any reason to attend them because it does not benefit the community in any way. He mentioned:
Honestly, to tell the truth. Do you know what happened recently with the local elections? The people we have chosen are not the ones who are leading us, they were elected by people we don’t know. And then so, it will be useless to attend community meetings because not even one of our own candidates is on that list. So this means corruption is from top to bottom, it begins from above downwards (Kgopotso*, 2016).
Although another resident indicated that he seldom attended meetings because he would be at work most of the time, he gets information of what was discussed from those who attended the meeting (Ditebogo*, 2016). Even though others report having stopped attending these meetings as they felt like they were only being managed and that the officials do not take them seriously (Thabang*, 2016), it is not clear as to when they
142 | P a g e stopped attending. Furthermore, while others have a choice of attending or not attending, some are unable to attend because they are too old and cannot walk for long distances which puts them at a disadvantage because they lose touch with what is going on as they are seldom updated on the outcomes of the meetings. Dikeledi* (2016) indicated that she is unable to attend these meetings because she is too old and cannot walk long distances. She further indicated that the only person who used to attend these meetings and update her was her son who was shot and killed during the protest. Her two daughters are not physically fit to assist her and depend on her care instead.
Drawing on the above explanations, it seems as though the majority of the community is not keen on these meetings as per the quote below, the only meetings that are taken seriously are those called by the people themselves. This high rate of non-attendance is exacerbated by the level of disrespect people feel; they indicated that sometimes their former councillor would call them to a meeting and never pitch. Participants also highlighted that, most of the time, the issues on the agenda were irrelevant to their immediate demands. For instance, municipal officials would come to discuss the IDP when all people wanted was to address issues like water interruptions and the issue of sewage which has been affecting three households in Mothutlung for years. As such, those who attend these meetings end up quarrelling with the officials because they do not want to listen or they even chase the officials away.
Our engagement like any other township, we were not really involved in the community meeting, only a few attend, particular ANC member because they knew and we only went if they’re going to talk about roll-out of project and possible employment. The meetings were never full. And yah, we’d take our complains to the meeting (Meiki*, 2016).
Given the alleged futility of community meetings by Mothutlung residents, the majority have opted to stop attending meetings and personally going to the municipality to address their issues. For instance, one of the woman who has been experiencing the problem of sewage dropping into her yard has been complaining at the municipality but nothing seems to work for her. Although some prefer going to the municipality, the majority have no choice but to live with the hope that their issues will be addressed in the meetings
143 | P a g e because they cannot afford to go to the municipality in Brits. However, neither method seems to work. People used to elect representatives, draft memorandums of grievances and deliver them to the municipality but received no response going to the municipality personally also did not guarantee that you would get the assistance you require. Consequently, people got tired of raising similar concerns over and over. The frustrations and anger which built-up amongst the residents was like a bomb ready to explode. An individual can only take so much disrespect and false promises. This mounting anger culminated in a major protest which will be discussed in the next section.
4.2 Detailed chronology of events of Mothutlung protest
4.2.1 Development of the protest in Mothutlung
For over a decade the community has been complaining about poor service delivery, drafting memorandums and attending meetings. The community then decided to take to the streets because they had had enough of empty promises. On the eve of the protest, which was on 13th January 2014, protestors marched to the house of the former councillor (Davids) to ask him about his intentions with regards to restoring water in the community. The events of that night are not clear as some residents indicate some level of violence whereby one truck which was delivering water was set alight, while the majority reported that there was no form of violence in their demonstrations. One resident reported:
I don’t remember any incident where our protests in Mothutlung were violent. Only one incident when the truck was set alight (a truck that was delivering water) otherwise there has been no violent incidents (Kgopotso*, 2016).
Again, it was reported that the former councillor had to take out a gun as a way of protecting himself and that the police had to be deployed to disperse the protestors. From the above statement, it is difficult to conclude that this event was not violent: if protestors were not violent, why would the councillor feel the need to protect himself with a gun and even call the police? Despite how the incidents unfolded, no arrests or killings were reported on this particular day. During the course of these events, community members
144 | P a g e held their small informal meetings to discuss what should happen and how it should happen when they get to the scene.
These kinds of informal meetings are what Miraftab (2004) classifies as “invented” spaces of participation, whereby people now create their own spaces which should provide them with the platform to participate significantly, unlike the artificial “invited” spaces that were created for them. In this manner, community members are given equal chance of participation and feel more able to participate in these informal meetings than in the meetings called for them by officials.
There are two stories to what transpired on the day of the actual protest. While some residents indicated that they had a meeting in the morning before they left for Brits offices, some argue that the protest was spontaneous, with no memorandum to be delivered, and the singing and chanting mobilised other community members to join in. In the first account, a meeting was held around 5am, but there is no clear memory of whether the memorandum was drafted or not. What happened is that, while the protestors marched to the municipal offices in Brits, they were followed by two nyalas which had about six to ten police officials in each. When they reached the Damonsville crossing, these police nyalas passed them and the police officials formed a straight line making it almost impossible for the protestors to pass them. The police then started shooting. During this time, residents of Dammonsville had already joined the protestors from Mothutlung. In the second account, Meiki narrated:
Erh…! No, this thing happened spontaneously. We just decided to go there and ask (to the office) and walking from Mothutlung to Brits is a long distance. (She was calling someone from the bedroom… and said she is a municipal pimp but later laughed it off. But then the person she was calling refused to come. Her mother wanted to ask her how incidents at the scene unfolded as she only stopped with others at extension2, and did not reach Damonsville crossing. Apparently the police told them [protestors] that they will not cross the bridge, that’s when they started shooting. They [protestors] tried to cross and that’s where the problem began. Actually there was a white man selling mangos at that cross, I think the problem is that people took his mangos and ate them because they were hungry
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(we all laugh), maybe the police assumed that if they can trouble that old man selling mangos at the cross, it means they will cause chaos when they get to Brits (town). You understand it was summer and hot, you know January is hot, people can do things when are hungry… We went to march on the 13th January 2014 (Monday), when we reached the cross that is when they took out their guns and started shooting. They killed Bra Mike, Mokokotelo and Enoch (from Damonsville), the latter died in hospital. Shadrack only got injury from being shot and still lives with a bullet inside his body (he is the son of our chairperson, Mr. Mahlangu). So Lerato was not there on that protest, the only person who was active on that protest, is me (Meiki*, 2016).
The second account seems to conform to Bond’s notion of a popcorn protest (2014) to describe those protests that are spontaneous and are not planned. However, this theory is problematic in the sense that it does not take into account the processes that transpired prior to the actual protest action. For instance, several meetings were held prior to this protest. People had to talk about their problems as a collective and come up with a way forward. In Mothutlung, several people even volunteered to lead the community and represent it during negotiations with the municipality. In this line of argument, their solution was to wake up one morning, mobilise those that are available and march to the office to engage their municipality on their long- standing grievances. Essentially, although there are two contradictory stories, what is consistent across these narratives is that the march was both illegal and peaceful, in that it did not comply with the Gatherings Act 205 of 1993which requires that protestors ought to be granted the permission to protest, but the protestors did not vandalise any property or harm anyone. Again, as they describe their protest, all they did was to sing and loot the mangos from the old white street vendor and that was perhaps sufficient enough to provoke the police to open fire at them, killing four people.
However, according to the municipal official’s point of view, this protest was politically motivated. Councillors and community leaders used communities to push their own political agenda. For instance, in order to have for community leaders to have their way into leadership, they badmouth their current leadership and turn the community against
146 | P a g e them in order to win over their trust. This explanation of protests by a municipal official was also discussed in literature review when it was argued that officials often disregard people’s grievances in the protest and argue that community leaders are pushing a political agenda. However, the majority of Mothutlung residents, including the current councillor, explained on several occasions that they are not interested in politics but actually got accidentally involved with politics. The majority of the population were fed up with the status quo to such an extent that they imagined themselves being the solution for the problem being experienced by the whole community. People indicated that they were left with no choice but to fight for what they believe is right. In the process, they were shot at for fighting for their basic rights, as indicated by one protestor when asked how he got involved in community politics:
But by then there were just rumours of the upcoming protest tomorrow but I was surprised because I heard that people are going to protest tomorrow but I did not take that serious, even Mokokotelo told me “I honestly became a politician by accident, I was working somewhere and minding my own business. These things drew me closer to politics”. The death of my brother changed my mind-set about politics. I was there, I saw him die and I had to go to report his death to his family. I saw that people who were there were so innocent, they did not have weapons and when the police were asked which police was injured from the violent crowd in court, no police came forward. That’s is why some of us believe that the people who were killed were actually target and assassinated for being against the tankering system. Although we don’t have evidence, people are talking that those people who continuously spoke about how corrupt tankering is were targeted by the intelligent who owned these businesses (Pontsho*, 2016).
After the shooting, protestors ran in different directions until they found their way back to Mothutlung where they held a meeting again to discuss what had just happened. It was quite tense as the community was grieving the loss of some community members. On the following day, Lerato Seema and his friend were arrested. The friend (Ngwako Baloyi) managed to escape but Seema “fell” from a moving nyala and died while also “attempting” to escape. Quotation marks are used to indicate that the story of Lerato has no exact
147 | P a g e details of what transpired but rather appear to be allegations as, even in the newspaper reports, police maintain that he fell. However, community interviewees believe otherwise, even though they have no proof other than x Rays which indicate that his body was badly damaged. Later that day, officials visited the area to learn about what had happened and pay their respects. Furthermore, they wanted to know what they can do to help with funeral arrangements. It was on this day that the former Minister of Water Affairs (Edna Molewa) promised the people that water will be restored within few days and that they will look into the matter raised by the community. Indeed, within a given time frame, water was restored but the quality had not improved until today.
So Tuesday we woke up, went to a meeting to discuss a way forward about why they kill us because we had a peaceful march. Let me tell you, there are no cowards like Mothutlung residents, we were so peaceful and we did not throw any stone or do anything to provoke the police but they decided to shoot us that day (Meiki*, 2016).
Indeed, the government did assist with funeral arrangements as promised and the deceased were buried. What is more, the deceased are regarded as the heroes and are commemorated every year on the exact day of the protest.
Police carried out their own investigations as to which police were responsible for the killing of the protestors and they found that only one policeman was responsible as he used the forbidden SSGxvii gun instead of rubber bullets. Some community members attended court proceedings and they were offered free transportation by Thari buses to and from court. The policeman (Mr Mophosho) who was found guilty of killing three people was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. However, the only case that is still pending is that of Lerato Seema. Because it lacks eye witnesses, it is the word of the police against no one, even though X-rays from hospital proves otherwise.
Having briefly outlined what was reported by the community on the protest, it is perhaps important to draw comparisons with what was reported in the cited newspaper sources which were used to compile the chronology of events and empirical data from the field. First and foremost, we should note the biases in how the Sowetan reporter phrased his title: “Water at Last in Mothutlung” (Nkosi, 2014: 1). What we get from this title is that
148 | P a g e people did not have water in Mothutlung, but the report does not take into account what is happening on the ground and the factors that may have led to taps being dry. The title is confusing in itself; one would not be sure whether taps are dry because there is a water shortage or because water services have been interrupted in the entire area.
As Alexander et al. (2013) have cautioned, there is a tendency for media reports to underreport and misrepresent the views of the people without giving further details on the matter. Secondly, media reports tend to be one sided and mislead the readers. For instance, the newspapers indicate that people were protesting over water but do not go in-depth to talk about what aspect of water were people demonstrating over. They also tend to portray the protestors as an angry mob. Now the problem with this statement is that, how can an angry mob protest peacefully over something they deem as a need in their lives? If that was the case, I would have imagined the protestors to be burning tyres or even attacking property. However the residents maintained that they had an illegal yet peaceful march to the offices. Finally, the voice of the municipal officials and their response to the charge of inconsistent water delivery is missing from the newspaper accounts.
Despite the above downfalls of media reports, these newspaper articles were particularly important for providing exact dates of events because the majority of residents had already forgotten them. Both data from the field and newspapers are fundamental in that they complement one another, and, even though there are some inconsistencies, a strong case can be made from the two. Below is an outline of how events occurred as reported by various newspaper articles.
12January 2014: According to Sifile (2014: 1) in the Sowetan newspaper, an angry mob of Mothutlung residents gathered outside their former ward councillor’s home and attempted to burn it. Following this, police were deployed to disperse a crowd which was pelting the councillor’s home with stones. Their car broke down when they got to Mothutlung (Warrant officer Daniel Kgotleng as quoted by Sifile on the Sowetan). From the team of eight police officers, Kgotleng reported at court that he fired the first rubber bullet to scare the stone-throwing crowd so that they do not come near their nyala while they were still busy trying to fix it. He further stated that the second shooting occurred as
149 | P a g e the police were trying to prevent the mob from taking a water drum which was held by an old man to barricade the road with it. Finally, the third shooting was at the councillor’s home, when the mob tried burning his home (Kgotleng). Shotguns were used in this instance. Shockingly, despite the media portraying residents as an angry mob, residents indicated that they had gone to the councilor’s house to seek answers as their councillor had been avoiding meeting them. They maintained that they were peaceful and were instead encountered by a group of police who opened fire on them for no reason. As such, they dispersed without completing their mission. Perhaps the meeting to discuss the protest that took place the following day was held right after an encounter with the police.
13January 2014: According to Pauw (19 Jan 2014), a City Press newspaper reporter, Mudzuli (15 Jan 2014) and Taylor (24 Jan 2014) The Star newspaper reporters, the early hours of the morning saw community members of Mothutlung being joined by residents of Dammonsville to march to Madibeng Local Municipality in Brits to hand in their memorandum after going for a week without water in their areas. From the face to face interviews conducted with some of the residents, they reported that there was no time to draft the memorandum so they marched to Brits empty handed. As such, it remains debatable whether residents indeed had a memorandum or not. Moreover, they reported that on their way to Brits, two deployed Public Order Policing nyalas were following them out of Mothutlung, but passed them when they were approaching Dammonsville cross. After passing them, they formed a line holding their guns facing the protestors. One protestor, named Amos Matjila reported in a newspaper article interview with Taylor of the Star newspaper (24 January 2014: 1) that “the police stopped them and started shooting without warning them”. He further indicated that “protestors were unarmed and contend that there was no need for them to be shot at them!”. Another resident (Christopher Sebea), told Mudzuli who was reporting for Pretoria News (15 January 2014: 1) that “the people were only armed with songs”. This was reiterated by community leader, a former councillor well-known for his activism in the North West, Mr Alfred Motsi when he indicated in a newspaper article by Molopyane (14 January 2014: 1) that the protest was peaceful and that even policemen from Mothutlung joined them in their march.
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Apparently, they started shooting at the “stone-throwing mob” because their commander had received a call that the mob must not reach Madibeng Municipality located at Brits (Pauw, 19 Jan 2014 on City Press). Pauw further reported that police were instructed to use rubber bullets. While the police were shooting, a weird sound of the gun came out and, all of a sudden, several protestors started falling to the ground. In an interview with Pauw (2014: 1), other police reported that they were shocked at this sound because it did not sound like a sound made by a rubber bullet. At that moment, it was unknown who could have opened the fire that killed two people and injured two others as reported by Molopyane on The New Age (14 Jan 2014: 1). According to Mothutlung residents, as reported by Pauw (19 Jan 2014: 1) in City Press, two people identified as Hosia “Mokokotelo” Rahube and Michael “Bra Mike” Tshele (62 year old camera man) were shot dead in cold blood on the scene. He further reported that although the policeman who shot these two men was unknown to City Press initially, several residents he interviewed stated that he was feared in the area and regarded as one of the “Marikana policeman” as they spotted him on television. Another protestor from Dammonsville, identified as Maboifane Seimela, passed away in hospital after being shot in the head. Several other people including Shadrack Mahlangu were left injured from this protest and still has a bullet stuck in his abdomen. A Sowetan reporter, Sifile (14 January 2014: 1) reported of the protest later on that day, that “police had to hand in their weapons so that they can be taken for ballistic tests” and that was when they were all called into a meeting. On the other hand, the community held a meeting to discuss what had just happened and in the process, the current councillor was requested to calm residents as they were fuming over what they had just witnessed. Sifile further reported that the police had their first debriefing meeting with Police Minister, Nathi Mthethwa, National Police Commissioner, Riah Phiyega and senior Brigadier Modisagaarekwe Mosimanegapexviii at Brits police station. In this meeting, all police agreed that only rubber bullets were used at the scene.
14 January 2014: According to the New Age reporter, Mashego (09 April 2014: 1), “Lerato Seema (27 year old engineer) was arrested with his friend Ngwako Baloyi, on public-violence related charges and that the latter managed to escape when the former died while trying to make an escape. It was also reported in the same article that the
151 | P a g e leader of the local EFF branch was denied entrance to the community on this particular day.
Brigadier Mosimanegape reported in an interview with Sifile (14 January 2014: 1) that “on the second debriefing meeting, policemen were evasive and maintained that they used rubber bullets”. This means that no one amongst these policemen wanted to take responsibility for the killings.
15 January 2014: On this day, Lerato Seema died from head injuries at Job Shimankana Tabane hospital as police claimed he fell from a moving nyala trying to escape custody. However, The Star newspaper article reported that the witness who was arrested with him (Ngwako Baloyi) stated that Seema was heavily assaulted by police inside the nyala and was eventually thrown out of a moving nyala (Taylor, January 2014: 1). This incident is symbolic of the event of 6th May 1985 when Andries Raditsela allegedly died by falling through a police car. These two incidents shows how history plays a significant role in our current reality. Both Mudzuli (15 Jan 2014) of Pretoria News and Taylor (24 Jan 2014) of The Star reported that Seema suffered serious injuries as he was beaten to a pulp by police inside a police nyala. Mudzuli moves on further to argue that Seema was left helplessly lying on the street for several hours before an ambulance arrived and during this period lost a lot of blood.
An article on Pretoria News mentioned that the former minister of water affairs Edna Molewa, accompanied by Nathi Mthethwa, Riah Phiyega and other government officials went to address the community about their water pumps on the very same day (Pretoria news, 15 Jan 2014: 1). Molewa was quoted in a newspaper article by Pretoria News mentioning that three water pumps had broken down in what she believed to be a “strange” occurrence. Concurrent to this, residents believed that saboteurs had tampered with the water supply and accused the councillors of being corrupt and advancing themselves using state resources. As a result, Molewa promised to investigate the allegations of tampering with the water metre and that the culprits will be brought to book. Moreover, in her speech, she promised the community that pumps were being repaired and that water will be restored on Friday. Similarly, EFF CIC Julius Malema was also
152 | P a g e present at Mothutlung, addressing the community on their rights and police brutality (Pretoria news, 15 Jan 2014: 1).
Shockingly, Mr Mophosho only disclosed in the third debriefing meeting that he suspects he might be the one who used the wrong ammunition as reported by Brigadier Mosimanegape in an interview with Sowetan reporter, Sifile (14 January 2014: 1). In the same article, Mophosho stated that he used a borrowed gun and that he thought it was loaded with rubber bullets.
21 January 2014: A newspaper report by Sifile (24 Jan 2014) from the Sowetan highlighted that the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) released a report compiled in 2013 which categorised Madibeng as amongst the five government entities that had failed to protect the basic human rights to water and sanitation by providing services of poor quality.
22 January 2014: The provincial government executive council (Exco) formed a member task team comprising of MLM which was seen to be troubled. This was done after it was established that Madibeng council failed to implement recommendations previously made by the former cooperative governance minister Richard Baloyi’s task team (Torerai, 24 Jan 2014, the New Age).
24/25 January 2015: On this day, it was reported in Pretoria News and The Star that 14 police facing disciplinary action for attempting to absolve themselves of any responsibility of the deaths and were suspended (Mudzuli & Abreu, 25 January 2014).
25 January 2014: According to a newspaper article in The New Age by Torerai (24 January 2014: 1), after internal investigations, Premier Thandi Modise fired Mayor Poppy Magongoa, speaker Buti Makhongela and the council’s ANC chief whip Solly Malete after it was established that they failed to implement the recommendations of a task team formed by former minister Richard Baloyi to probe corruption in the municipality. It is unclear whether the mayor “resigned” or they “fired her” because a report by City Press (26 January 2014) state that she resigned.
27 January 2014: According to a report by The New Age (27 January 2014), the Premier delivered a statement in which she welcomed disciplinary action taken against the
153 | P a g e accused 14 police following a fatal shooting which led to death of four people in Mothutlung. This was after police declared that a total number of 185 shots were fired at protestors. In the same article, Nathi Mthethwa indicated that of the 14 accused police, six has already been suspended and the remaining were being served with their suspension notices.
10 February 2014: Given all the events that unfolded in the area the previous month, the former premier Thandi Modise placed Madibeng municipality under administration after declaring it as dysfunctional. Following these developments, the provincial government was now considered responsible for Madibeng’s daily affairs (Mudzuli, 13 February 2014).
Magubane (11 February 2014) reported in Business Day that the former premier Thandi Modise had scheduled a meeting with Madibeng council to discuss progress in redirecting water to communities but Mr Kgwelexix indicated that the meeting had to be postponed to 11th February following postponement by the municipal officials without giving reasons.
18 February 2014: On this day, Hyde Mophosho, a police officer who was found guilty of the murder of the three protestors in Mothutlung was due to be sentenced in the North Gauteng High Court but applied for extension for preparation of a psychologist’s report on his mental state (Nkosi, 19 February 2016). Judge Letty Molopa-Sethosa granted him extra time. His sentencing was pushed to 12th & 13th April 2014. As reported in the Sunday Independent (Nkosi, 19 February 2016), Judge Molopa-Sethosa ruled in January that Mophosho was guilty of these murders in January as he fired an outlawed SSG containing pellets to the protesting residents.
4 March 2014: An article in The New Age by Mkhwanazi (04 March 2014) reported that the government tightened security in Mothutlung to prevent repetition of vandalism of infrastructure on this day following allegations of theft and vandalism of infrastructure.
16 May 2014: Following accusations by the community that officials are the saboteurs of water valves, police arrested four men, including the former councillor, at their homes on the 15th May (Thursday) at night after lifting finger prints from the damaged valves (Hosken, Masombuka & Mabuza, 19 May 2014, reported in The Times).
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17 May 2014: In the same report, the above journalists report that these men were provisionally released as the prosecutor requested postponement for further investigations. No further arrests have been made after their release.
17 September 2015: It was on this day that Judge Letty Molopa-Sethosa would deliver her verdict. It was reported in various newspapers, including the Sowetan that Hyde Mophosho was charged with murder for killing Michael Tshele, Hosia Rahube and Maboifane Seimela (Sifile, 19 May 2015). His other charges included using ammunition called SSG containing pellets and pointing a gun at the protestors of which the latter was later withdrawn.
17 April 2016: It was reported in the Sowetan that Hyde Mophosho forced postponement again due to changing of lawyers. Judge Letty Molopa-Sethosa granted him another extension and set his new sentencing date for the 1st June 2016 (Sifile, 19 May 2015).
01 June 2016: On the day of his sentencing, Venter (02 June 2014) from The Star and Sifile (03 June 2016) from the Sowetan reported that Mophosho broke down in court while pleading for mercy. He was so emotional that the judge had to adjourn proceedings for a short while. These two reporters further reported that, initially, he pleaded not guilty but it was established that he had used outlawed ammunition. After hearing his statement, the judge stated that Mophosho will know his fate on the 8th June 2016. It was indicated that Mophosho had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after the shootings and was therefore referred to Dr Lerato Dikobe for psychiatric evaluation after being admitted at Netcare Kasia Hospital. It was on this day that Dr Lerato Dikobe presented psychiatric evaluation report in court and this led Judge Letty Molopa-Sethosa to question the availability of the report as it was not presented earlier.
08 June 2016: According to Venter (09 June 2014) of The Star newspaper, Judge Letty Molopa-Sethosa sentenced Mophosho to 20 years imprisonment at Pretoria High Court. His sentencing saw families of the deceased shaking their heads in dissatisfaction which led to one of the parents collapsing outside the courtroom.
On the day after the sentencing, Venter (09 June 2014) reported that some guy approached Shadrack Mahlanguxx while he was consoling Rahubes’ mother outside the
155 | P a g e court. The guy started threatening Mahlangu for forgiving Mophosho and called him a sell-out. This did not seem to bother Mahlangu because he believed he had forgiven Mophosho so that he could move on, and he was part of the march because he was also affected.
Fast-forward to August 2016, the local government elections saw members who had volunteered to be leaders voted in as new local leadership. Although respondents seldom associated themselves with any political party, and some even report being accidentally involved in politics, it is clear that they are members of the majority party. The only change was new leadership who are believed to be young and vibrant and, most importantly, not divorced from the people’s struggles as residents believe they have fought a good fight. This discussion is developed further in the next section which looks at the changes that came after the protest.
4.3 Outcomes of the protest action
4.3.1 Protest outcomes
To begin with, the protest claimed four lives and the officials from the provincial government visited the area to find out what had had happened and why. However, it is important to note that, although it is known that four people died during the protest in Mothutlung, not all of them died in the protest scene on the same day. Only two people were shot and died on the scene. One was rushed to hospital and died the same day. The last one was first arrested with his friend, taken by a nyala and allegedly assaulted when his friend made an escape. Apparently he fell from a moving nyala while trying to escape, however, a witness refutes these allegations, stating that he was badly assaulted before being thrown out of a moving nyala.
Following this tragedy, the government offered to assist with burials in terms of finance and ensuring that these families have sufficient water to bury their family members. However, Bra Mike’s family declined the offer indicating that they are capable of burying their son with dignity. This decision was reached on the basis that Bra Mike’s mother felt that, should she allow this, it would feel as though she had sold her son’s soul for money
156 | P a g e as she explained that it would look like she is happy that they killed her son so that she can claim the money and keep following up on it:
We’ve been going to court all this time, it only ended... I take my sibling’s child to accompany me to court because my family is from Mmakau. I take her so she can accompany me since I can’t see properly and to us telling that we can claim in order to get something ..(her daughter entered the house ) so I don’t have money to pay lawyer and in my heart I’m not saying it’s okay that they killed my child so they must thank me with something like I agree with them to killing my second child knowing that I’ll be thanked with money. It’s a problem. (as you see my daughter, she is only getting better now.. she could not walk, and used to mess her pants… even her grandchildren refuse to help her or even go to shop for her). It’s a problem I’m so heartbroken that should be the who pass on as well I’ll only be left with only one child (she is crying), two will be gone and I’ll be left with only one who has stroke, she cannot bath even to dress herself, this one is better now because she can walk. They offered (municipality) to help me with burial but I told them that I cannot do it, so I can be thankful with money from the government, so that my other child can die and they thank me again, I told them to keep it if they want it , but I’m not going to make a follow up on this, I buried my child (Johannah*, 2017).
From Bra Mike’s mother’s explanation, it is not like they had money for the burial or lawyers because she also mentioned that she owed her funeral parlour and was awaiting pay day to settle her debt. As logical as it may sound to accept the offer, it should be noted that people deal with pain in various ways and they have values to uphold. As a way to celebrate the lives of those who lost their lives in the struggle, Mothutlung commemorates 14th of January every year by going to the spot in which the shootings took place to light candles and hold prayers. This is to show that they celebrate the lives of their heroes. They have been doing this since 2014. However, in 2017 it was decided that each and every family do their own small thing at home since there was no budget to accommodate the entire community.
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Another change which evoked varying emotions from community members was the arrest of one policeman who was found guilty of the killings. Although other residents felt that he deserved to pay for his sins, others indicated that there is nothing that can be done or said once justice takes its course. The majority of the residents were sceptical that Mophosho was the only police officer who should be charged for murder as it did not make sense to them as to how he was able to aim the same spot on two different people with different heights and were standing far from each other. As one resident argues, she thinks that more than one person was involved in these shootings. Mophosho was singled out and is taking the fall. She also adds that Mophosho might have been going through some personal stuff on that particular day as she believes that no one in his right mind could do what he did. She suspects that these shootings were planned and that Mophosho was bought to take the fall given that his family will be taken good care of. In her conclusion, she feels undermined and patronised by the government and that the case should have been dealt with differently:
Uhm… like mostly Mothutlung people are fear, if you know about Josta... I think Mophosho was only singled out from the rest, I don’t think he was the only the only one who shot those people. I feel like the government is undermining us by punishing us one person for the rest of the crowd, their just want to shut our mouth, it’s impossible that Maphosho was the only one who shot and killed those people. Even when we go to the scene to pray every day, you can see that if he was randomly shooting he would’ve killed a lot of people, I feel like those who we’re shot were targeted by different police because one fell here and the other one fell there, he would’ve killed everyone who was in the front, the after one who was shot on the head and died was behind somebody else, couldn’t he have stated with that one who was in the front? I don’t think if you shoot randomly you look at people’s heads because people’s height vary. Both these people who died were shot on the head, then how did Mophosho aim to all those people. That’s what makes the community angry. I feel like this case need to be reviewed, not that only person was arrested, this case is big and we need people who can help us look at it (Meiki*, 2016 and 2017).
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Similarly, Thabang* (2017) argues that although he is pained about the lost lives, he is also pained that Mophosho’s family will have to suffer while he is in jail. He stated that they cannot undo what had happened but, surely, the outcome could have been made a bit lenient because innocent people will suffer in the process. Moreover, he echoed Meiki’s* statement, adding that this case was not dealt with in a proper manner. However, some of the residents, including Kgopolo* (2017) and Ipelegeng* (2016), contend that the court cannot lie because its ruling is based on the presented evidence. They maintained that although others may feel that the sentencing was a bit harsh, they believe that the policeman who was found guilty of the killing deserves the sentencing because he took away people’s lives and there is nothing that can be done about it.
What arises from residents’ reports is that they are not familiar with the kind of gun that was used as the majority regard it as a live ammunition, when in actual fact it was an SSG that was used. Although one policeman was arrested, 14 other policemen were suspended.
Uhm, if he was using live ammunition then he is the only one who was arrested from that group of policemen. It means he was the only one responsible for the deaths of 4 people (Kelebogile*, 2017).
Apparently, a few days after the protest, water in Mothutlung was restored. However, its quality had not improved. Residents reported that the former water affairs minister came to Mothutlung and promised the community that water would be restored in a few days. This left them shocked because they were wondering where the water was coming from, but could not ask questions because they needed water. Ever since then, water interruptions are less infrequent, even though the quality remains unchanged. According to some residents, although they no longer experience frequent water cuts, they do not believe that the changes were brought about as a result of protest. With this line of argument, they were trying to highlight that, although they now have water, they have not reached their desired goal, despite having lost four lives:
Even if it didn’t help much, but it did. We no longer experience frequent water cut- offs (Johannes*, 2017).
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However, the majority of the residents reported that, although they were not happy with losing lives over water struggles, they feel like the protests did work for them as they no longer experience frequent water interruptions. Most importantly, they now receive notification of interruptions beforehand so that they can prepare themselves. One resident went on to explain that this was an achievement for their community because they feel like now the municipality listens to them and can actually address their needs. Previously, notifications of interruptions would not be sent out and people would not know when water would be back, but now they receive messages on their cell phones informing them of potential water interruptions, the reasons for interruptions and when to expect the supply to return. For those who do not receive messages, they will receive pamphlets of notifications:
There were some changes, we no longer lack water like we used to before, like if they cut, it will be back during the day (Suzie*, 2017).
The two key things to take from this is that water was restored and the community is happy because they did away with the tankering system that they were fighting. However, in neighboring townships like Mmakau and Dammonsville, people still receive water in tanks when there are water interruptions. When the community was asked what these changes meant for them as a community, despite losing four of their community members, the majority of them mentioned that it shows that the municipality now listen to Mothutlung community, compared to a few years before the protest when Mothutlung was known to be a peaceful township. In addition, residents commend the protest for helping them shake the municipality and change the way in which they respond to the community:
Yah! Kore when it’s the people of Mothutlung are complaining/talking, the municipality now listens to them because they are afraid Mothutlung was once broadcasted on the news due to that issue of deaths during protests. The municipality is afraid of this (Kgopotso*, 2016).
However, with all that being said, a few residents like Meiki* contend that the protest did not help with anything except that now they have the councillor they have chosen for
160 | P a g e themselves. She argues that the water situation in Mothutlung has not changed because their water is still dirty. However, in terms of leadership, she is happy because she feels like things will change for the better in Mothutlung now that they are being led by someone who has been with them throughout the struggle. Again, from her statement it is evident that, although the community is not vocal about it, should their current leadership not serve them as desired, another protest action may erupt.
No! It didn’t do anything. We still have the same problem, maybe we might say a change is that we got the counselor that we elected, who has been present throughout our struggle, he’ll serve us knowing that when people are angry, things like this do and might happen. Not undermining/ taking people for granted and delivery, serve the people while eating money it’s okay you understand (Meiki*, 2017).
In essence, as reported in the Sowetan newspaper articles (Matlala, 2014; Selibi, 2014 and Sifile, 2014), the former Mayor and some of her council members, including the chief whip, were fired upon completion of the investigation as they were implicated in some of the reported scandals of the municipality. It is reported that they were fired because they did not implement recommendations given to them to improve service delivery within the municipality. However, it should be noted that this statement is not based on firm grounds because, although some newspapers report that they were fired, some report that they resigned. Even though the report is not released for the public, some of the residents in Mothutlung understand that the former council was fired due to corruption. Following this, the municipal manager noted that security in Mothutlung was tightened to prevent repeated vandalism and theft.
During the course of protest, a few people had volunteered to be leaders in the community and to represent the people during negotiations with the municipality. According to the residents, this was the only time they were given the chance to choose their own representatives that they were actually satisfied with. Therefore, in the local elections that took place in August 2016, Mothutlung voted this leadership into council, which meant
161 | P a g e that the new councillor they chose will have executives who had also previously volunteered to lead the community. According to the residents, this allowed them to restructure the ANC from the inside, starting from the mother-body to the Youth League. In this way, the community was happy because they have actually exercised their right of voting their leadership into power:
Within the ANC erh… we restructured from the mother-body to the ANC youth league that’s where I even became the chairperson of the ANCYL. A powerful tool is to attack the mother-body, we even changed the mother-body of ANC and we came with our own councillor, who communicated with the municipality and was engaging senior leadership from the department of water and sanitation. They came and checked the environment (Thabang*, 2016).
All these changes were made right after the protest of 2014 because the community indicated that they have always been dissatisfied with their leadership and did nothing about it until after the protest. This scenario shows that people have the power to change their status quo but wait for the right moment to make this transformation. In addition, it also shows that the community saw it necessary to penetrate the party from within and restructure it, thereby removing alleged corrupt leaders in the party so as to improve their living conditions. Therefore, analysis shows that people have no issues with the ANC as a party but rather with corrupt leaders within the party, hence they deemed it necessary to remain loyal to the ANC but overthrow the former leadership (Booysen: 2007; 2009). My own observation, however, suggest that the community is already discontent with the work of the new leadership that they chose themselves. Although they were under the same struggle together, on my last visit to Mothutlung, some residents mentioned that the current leadership had already been captured and that they see no prospects of change during their time of office. It is for this reason that I propose the existence of “local leadership capture” in Mothutlung, in which there is an evident battle for power and authority which goes to the extremes of affecting local residents in terms of poor service delivery.
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4.3.2 Betrayal within the protesting community
In Mothutlung, like any other community, no matter how much you strive to maintain solidarity there are always instances whereby a few people work as undercover spies, often labelled “sell-outs” in the South African context. These concepts are not a new phenomenon; during the apartheid era, white oppressors used local members of the community to serve as their ears and eyes on the ground. So they “sold-out” the community to their target; however it is not really clear whether such exchanges include money or even protection and safety. Sell-outs are discreet and often difficult to detect in a larger group.
In the case of Mothutlung, the community was united by a common goal of fighting against water interruptions and tinkering, However, within the very same protesting group, Thabang* (2016) asserts that a few individuals were only present to learn about the plans of the community so that they could pass on the information to the relevant people. In this way, it is easy to target members of the community based on their level of activeness and vocalness in these meetings. What is interesting is that a few community interviewees indicated that they always suspected that there were spies amongst them because when they discuss something in their meetings, their targets are always a step ahead of them and they could not understand how this was possible. However, their suspicions were confirmed when they saw some of the community members chilling and having braais with the people whom they are accusing of the political and social unrest in Mothutlung:
So, that day, some of our comrades were being shot at because we had a belief that we as the community, are divided even after some community members were busy braaing meat with the police. You understand. And amongst those, were working with the leader that we chose at Mothutlung. Most of these people were busy working for the municipality. This mean that those people (sell-outs) are the ones which told police which people to shoot from the mob (Thabang*, 2016).
As alluded to in the above quote, it is clear that this tendency of selling out the community brings about the divisions within the community. As argued in the previous section, it is evident that this behaviour of spying on the community and passing on the information to
163 | P a g e the relevant people is what made it easier for the police to shoot and kill prominent protestors from the protesting crowd. How else can we explain the killing of three key people who were vocal and informed about what is going on in Mothutlung, with Bra Mike’s evidence going missing right on the scene?. This is a form of betrayal that kills most communities. If not addressed, the efforts of protestors will often be in vain because it puts the protestors at a disadvantage as they are always a few steps behind.
4.3.3 Conclusion
This chapter opened with a detailed discussion of the historical development of Mothutlung, as well as how MLM was formed from the government of Bophuthatswana. It is in this first section where we get to understand that the history of an area is fundamental in understanding its present and future because its history is a reflection of how it is shaped. This chapter also delineated service delivery in the Municipality and later narrowed it down to the experiences and challenges of Mothutlung residents regarding the water sector, specifically, presenting a case of how poor delivery of this resource may have driven residents to take to the streets, even after over a decade complaining about it. Several other factors which may have contributed to poor delivery of this resource were discussed followed by the measures that residents embarked on to ensure that they have water at the end of the day. The first section was fundamental in developing a strong case for the root causes of underperformance of the water sector. This also assisted in developing the narrative presented in section 4.2 of how protest events unfolded. The final section looked at the changes that were evident after the protest action, even though some of the residents do not wish to believe that these changes were as a result of the protest itself. From this chapter, the reader should be able to understand the situation of Mothutlung with regards to water access before, during and after the protest that took place in early 2014.
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Chapter five Conclusion and recommendations
5.1 Introduction
This chapter presents conclusions drawn from the literature review and fieldwork conducted in Mothutlung Township in Brits, North West. It draws on the conclusions derived from three sets of interviews conducted in Mothutlung, particularly focusing on the history of Mothutlung from the 1970s when the area was established. This period is fundamental in understanding how the development of Mothutlung and its history may have contributed to the build-up of anger and frustration amongst residents, which culminated in a major protest in 2014, claiming the lives of four people. In essence, this period also aids in understanding how the history of Mothutlung has contributed to shaping its current situation. The main argument cutting across this research report is that, in order to understand how protests are developed and understood, we ought to understand their historical origins by tracing the history of that particular area and understanding how protests are developed gradually. Although a lot has been documented on protests across the country, little has been said about the impact of the history of a given place on the development of protests. As such, the researcher recommends that studies which emphasise the importance of history in relation to protests should be prioritised in future research. Finally, this chapter closes with a section which offers recommendations for future research.
5.2 Conclusion
Owing to the findings from both the literature and the field, a few conclusions can be derived. First and foremost, South Africa is regarded as a water-scarce country, not because it lacks water sources or facilities, but because there is manufactured scarcity. This implies that, hydrologically, South Africa is a water-scarce country. A few aspects should be explored when looking at factors that impede effective water service delivery to the people and they will be summarised below. Of the key points to be acknowledged is the fact that water scarcity is contextual. This is to say, assumptions should not be
165 | P a g e drawn that an area ought to have sufficient water for everyone based on the number of water sources it has. Although areas such as Madibeng have sufficient water sources, this does not necessarily mean that residents have access.
In general, various authors, including Dovi (2007), Plummer and Slaymaker, (2007: 3), Bond (2014) and UNESCO (2016) argue that the water crisis which South Africa is facing or yet to face has a lot to do with a governance crisis. This is manifested by the failure to value water properly as well as a lack of transparency and accountability in the management of water. This means that the challenge faced by MLM and other municipalities does not necessarily mean that services such as water and sanitation are non-existent. The main problem is that people lack access to these services because of the history of government’s unresponsiveness and the inability of the municipality to fix the aging infrastructure which would minimise the amount of water lost through leakages.
In essence, another challenge that is prevalent in the water sector is inequality in rendering this service across various sectors, such as mining, agriculture and human consumption. For instance, in Mothutlung, it was clear that the majority of the water goes into mining as the mines pay the municipality a lot of money for this service. This inequality was also evident in the local mine having water while people experience frequent interruptions. This example shows the dynamics in which water can be allocated to various sectors based on ability to pay. For municipalities like Madibeng, people lack access to water when mines continue having sufficient water. In fact mines even supply local people with it just because people cannot afford to pay the municipality what the mines are paying for this water resource.
The above argument returns to the notion that, when looking at the challenges of lack of access in a community, we should also consider the element of affordability rather than availability of this resource. Arguably, people do not lack services because services do not exist but, rather, people lack access to services because of municipal maladministration and corruption. People still owe the municipality money which was carried over from the Bophuthatswana government and, as such, this debt may restrict their affordability to pay for services. In a nutshell, although many of these services have been provided, they are often cut-off because people cannot afford to pay for them. The
166 | P a g e majority of residents owe the municipality thousands of rands for this service, a debt which accumulated historically when people refused to pay for services as a means to overthrow the Bophuthatswana regime. As such, instead of starting on a clean slate, people are still expected to pay off that debt. Some have thrown in the towel while the debt keeps accumulating interest. In addition, corruption and greediness also characterise our local municipalities, hence the inability to supply local communities with effective and efficient services. Madibeng local municipality was accused of being corrupt on several occasions and was even placed under provincial administration.
What is interesting to note is the fact that, not only was the municipality blamed for poor service delivery, but there is also a tendency for local people to overexploit the little water resource available to them. Arguably, people misuse this resource as they do not place much value on it. Simply happy to see water coming from their taps, they are not interested in the costs attached to delivering this resource. It is for this reason, I argue, that if this is the case then, there is a tendency of the local people and officials to undermine the capacity of the state to provide services to the people. As argued previously, this may be done either consciously or unconsciously with the former being through corruption and greediness to generate income by misusing state resources.
In the case of Mothutlung, people indicated that they were fed up with empty promises made by their municipality even after over 20 decades of democracy. Essentially, the concept of democracy remains to be debated in Mothutlung as there is no consensus as to whether democracy exists in Mothutlung or not because people tend to define it based on their experiences and expectations. Although some indicate that democracy does exist in Mothutlung, the quality thereof is not pleasing. Even so, some residents have faith in their democracy and maintain that there is room for improvement in the quality of democracy in the coming five years. Moreover, what we learn from one of the residents is that, we should bear in mind that with democracy comes responsibilities. Therefore, it is imperative to consider responsibilities when addressing the issue of democracy in various areas.
Another important finding is that Mothutlung residents indicated that, prior to the protest of 2014, they used to go for five to six days without water, even though they had paid for
167 | P a g e it. To make matters worse, these interruptions were seldom communicated to the people, hence residents felt disrespected by their municipality. In response to this water challenge, the municipality resorted to the tankering system in which the community later discovered that there was corruption in a system that was meant to help them. Consequently, these trucks were chased away by residents as they threatened to burn them should they enter into their community. I strongly believe that the protest of 2014 was not only triggered by lack of water access as other factors including poor water quality and the controversial tankering system may have triggered anger and frustrations which culminated in this major protest, claiming four lives. The issue of the controversial tankering system boils down to the debate on corruption in the municipality and reflects how one factor can be a root of all problems in one municipality.
This protest is amongst the many others which contribute to the high rate of protests in South Africa. This amounts to a rebellion of the poor and ultimately qualifies the country as the protest capital of the world. It should also be noted that it is clear from the evidence presented above that South Africa has a long history of violence as almost every discontent is expressed through a rebellion. The growing rate in this trend shows that this act has come to be normalised and is protected by legislation. Although people do not like protesting, unimproved livelihoods propel communities to protests their grievances, irrespective of the unintended implications involved. Growing trends in protest show that people believe rebellion to be the best solution to their grievances and, as such, people are prepared to lose everything including their lives in the quest to attain what they want.
The above argument holds true because it was established in the existing literature that, although voting helps, protest works to help people acquire what they want, be it attention or services from the municipality. However in practical terms, although protest may have worked to some extent in Mothutlung – improving communication, restoring water restored and bringing about a change in leadership – it does not change the fact that four lives were lost and the quality of water has not yet improved. This shows that some of the protest outcomes may be unintended yet inevitable. In essence, even though a community may be united towards achieving one goal, there are bound to be a few
168 | P a g e individuals who disguise themselves as one of the protestors yet they know that they are actually sell-outs.
Looking at protests through the lens of protesters reveals that they believe that protest brings about betterment of livelihoods in their respective communities due to the pressure they exert through mobilisation. As such, one has to interact with protestors to gain insight into the meanings that protestors attach to protesting. In the case of Mothutlung, several sentiments are shared in this regard. Although others believe that the protest worked for them, some are still grieving the loss of their family members while others feel that they could have achieved more with that protest. The same goes for the debate on the existence of democracy in Mothutlung. What stood out is that individuals conceptualise democracy differently based on their expectations and experiences. In any case, even though the majority of residents reported that they see prospects of democracy in the future, they are concerned with the quality thereof.
Finally, it is clear from the historical legacies that continue to haunt municipalities like Madibeng that the current South Africa is undoubtedly a reflection of its history. As such, what needs to be done is the alteration of historical inequalities that were inherited from the apartheid regime and this should be done through encouraging meaningful participation of all the stakeholders. This means that in order to bring about equality and to curb the legacies of historical inequality, all citizens must be afforded a platform to participate and inform policy so that they do not resort to other alternatives of engagement. The final section provides recommendations for both the Mothutlung community and MLM on how to improve their channels of communication and seek ways to mitigate challenges experienced in the area.
5.3 Recommendations
From fieldwork it was evident that lack of infrastructure and poor maintenance of infrastructure plays a vital role in the area’s lack of access to services such as water and sanitation. In the case of Mothutlung, it was evident that this argument is true as both interviewed residents and a municipal official indicated that they are currently using old infrastructure which is classified as aging hence they experience many challenges with
169 | P a g e delivering and accessing services. As such, it is crucial for the municipality to ensure that they build new infrastructure, particularly for water, to ensure that it lives up to its promise of delivering good quality water to the people. In essence, new infrastructure should be built to store water during rainy days to avoid situations of water scarcity during dry seasons. What is more, the municipality should hire competent staff to construct and maintain this infrastructure continuously.
In addition, central government needs to exercise real authority in delivering services to curb behaviours that undermine its capacity to deliver services. In order to curb the disjuncture between policy formulation and implementation, people with relevant competencies should be hired for the positions they deserve, not because they know people in certain divisions of the department. For instance, the municipality should hire qualified people for water treatment and supply. Moreover, there should be continuous training for those people so that they can refresh their memory and learn new ways of working efficiently and effectively.
Moreover, the issue of corruption should be looked into by a neutral independent authority in the form of monitoring and evaluation or auditing. In this way, transparency within the municipality will be improved. This action must also be adopted in local government. This will ensure that those in leadership account for their decisions and actions, and hopefully improve service delivery to the people on the ground. This will ensure that leadership is responsive to the people and thus mitigate feelings of alienation and disrespect on the part of the residents.
I strongly believe that, should officials change the way in which they respond to the people and refrain from making false and unrealistic promises, people will feel less entitled or less betrayed when things are not delivered to them. To build a relationship with the people, officials should adopt a realistic and transparent approach whereby they share relevant information with the residents and explain reasons as to why certain things may be impossible to deliver. Furthermore, they should also sit with the residents and set realistic timeframes of delivery based on the allocated budget. In this way, people will not be left in the dark and expecting a lot because they are under the impression that there is sufficient budget.
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Furthermore, I am of the view that the municipality should invest in infrastructure and policy reform as well as develop appropriate technology to increase water supply. In addition, the people on the ground and policy makers as well as economic planners should be taught about the importance of using water wisely and be made aware of the implications of the nearing water scarcity. What they currently have in Madibeng are programmes to teach people how to use water, but I feel that this initiative will not be effective because it is used to teach a certain group of people to save water while leaving the others out. In actual fact, both parties should be trained in this regard so that they can all play a role in protecting this precious resource.
The municipality should also put appropriate measures in place to punish non-payment by residents. I strongly feel that this measure should be effective after all the historical debt has been cleared so that everyone starts on a clean slate, and non-compliance from then onwards can be punishable. This recommendation was deduced following the finding that people are reluctant to pay for water because they know that there are no penalties for non-payment. However, this will only be applicable after putting up an accurate billing system in place because people indicated that they are reluctant to pay because the current billing system in faulty and inaccurate.
Essentially, I believe that, instead of protesting and marching, residents should carry on communicating with their municipalities through conventional ways such as attending meetings and drafting memorandums. In addition, they should use social media to mobilise support and exchange ideas with other communities. Social media platforms will get the word out there, focus will be given to that particular area, and the state may even intervene without the use of violence. I strongly hold that the municipality will be quick to respond if they are aware that they are in the public eye as the majority of these municipalities fear this kind of exposure. In this way, no one is at the risk of getting arrested or losing their life as was the case when protesting in Mothutlung. However, the downside of this may be the exclusion of those who cannot afford data to engage on these platforms. Again, others may use it to advance their own political agendas. The solution would be to have a group of people monitoring these social media platforms.
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A fairly vast body of literature in South Africa speaks about why, where and when protests occur, as well as the aims of protestors, but little attention has been paid to the importance of the history of a particular area and how its history may have shaped how protests develop. It is suggested here that one cannot adequately understand protests through contemporary newspaper articles or through relatively quick research projects that only pay attention to a few years of history. Instead, a long term approach is needed to better comprehend the reality of the present period of upsurge that we are currently witnessing on South Africa’s political landscape. As such, future research should seek to bridge this lacuna in research which may involve extending studies of histories of protest to other areas outside of Mothutlung.
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APPENDIX 1
Informed Consent My name is Eunice Ntshadiko Khumalo and I am a Masters candidate at the University of Johannesburg. I am conducting research as part of my Masters’ degree at the University of Johannesburg in the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies. I am asking you to participate in an interview that will last about 45 minutes. The title of my study is ‘Understanding Popular Participation in Water Governance: The case of Madibeng Municipality, North West’. It will try to understand how various engagements between the municipality and residents led to protests. Your participation will help trace protest events as they unfolded in Mothutlung. It will explore residents’ experiences of the local water crisis and what they did to get the municipality to address it. Questions that will be asked include problems experienced in the area and how the community communicated their problems with their municipality. Participation is voluntary and you have the right to withdraw at any stage of the interview without being penalised or disadvantaged in any way. Since this study is a university project, no payments will be granted to participants. Anonymity will be assured through the use of pseudonyms. Participants’ information will be kept private and confidential. The interview records will only be accessible to me and my fieldworkers, my research supervisors and the Chair of the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies. Moreover, transcripts will be securely stored for 10 years for legal and ethical reasons. If you agree to participate in my study, please sign the consent form below. Interviews will be recorded in writing and, if you agree, will be audio recorded. If you wish to enquire about any aspect of this study at any time, please contact me or my supervisors on the contact details below. I will be pleased to answer any questions. Thank you Eunice Khumalo Tel, ********** [email protected] Supervisors: Prof Mary Galvin ([email protected]) Dr Luke Sinwell ([email protected]) Formal acknowledgement of consent: Name:______Signed:______Date:______
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APPENDIX 2 Interview guide/questions for local residents
1. How can you describe service delivery in your area? Particularly in the water sector. 2. What are the main problems experienced in the area regarding access to water? 3. What brings about issues of water access in your municipality? 4. When did you start experiencing these problems? 5. How long have you had the issues for? 6. How has these problems affected your life and daily functioning? 7. What did you do to improve your water services? 8. What steps did you take to engage your municipality regarding issues with water access? 9. What have the municipality done to include you in decision-making regarding water services in your area? 10. How can you describe the level of water access in your area? And, what improvements has been made in this regard? 11. What does protest mean to you? 12. Why did you decide to engage in a protest? 13. How did the protest develop? 14. How did you mobilise support from other residents to strengthen the protest action? 15. How did you maintain this solidarity in your community? 16. Did you draft and deliver a memorandum of grievances? What grievances did the memorandum consist of? 17. Did you achieve what you were hoping to achieve through engaging in a protests action? 18. How has protesting helped improve water access issues in your area? 19. How did the municipality respond to your grievances (before and after water protests of 2013)? 20. How can you describe the intensity of violence in your protest? 21. What brought about violence in your protest?
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22. What have death of four people in your area taught you about protesting? And what did it mean for your protest as a community? 23. What led to the shootings by police officers? 24. What did you do in response to the shootings? 25. A police officer was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, what effect did this development have on your protest? 26. How did your officials react to your initial outcry? 27. In your own point of view, why do officials only respond to issues when they have become a crisis? 28. What changes would you wish to see happening in your community?
Interview guide/questions for local municipal official
29. How can you describe service delivery in your area? Particularly in the water sector. 30. What are the main problems experienced in the area regarding access to water? 31. How long have these issues been going on? 32. What have you done as the municipality to mitigate these issues? 33. How do you ensure that the community participate in meetings? 34. Before the protests, did you receive memorandum of grievances from local residents? 35. How did you respond to the residents grievances pertaining to water and why? 36. How can you describe the level of water access in your area? And, what improvements has been made in this regard? 37. What water policies do you have in place to ensure equal water access for everyone in Madibeng municipality? 38. How do you create a balance in the water policies that you have in place and ensuring their implementation? 39. What do you think pushed the residents into protesting their grievances? 40. How can you describe the intensity of violence in these water protests? 41. What do you think might have led to violence in these protests? What brings about issues of water access in your municipality?
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42. What have you learnt about violence in your area and fulfilling the rights of the local residents? 43. How did you respond to the protest action by the community? And why? 44. What do you think might have led to the shootings by police officers? 45. What have death of four people in your area meant for delivering services to the people? 46. How did you respond to these tragic events? 47. A police officer was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, what effect did this development have on your protest? 48. The minister devoted a certain amount of money to improve water access in the area, how have these funds been helpful in improving water access in Mothutlung? 49. As the municipality, how were these funds distributed in the water sector? 50. What challenges do you face as a municipality in ensuring equal water access to everyone? 51. How do you deal with these challenges? 52. How do you govern water in your municipality? 53. How did you as the local councillor react to the initial outcry? 54. How did your officials react to your initial outcry? 55. Why do officials only respond to issues when they have become a crisis? 56. How do you plan to improve service delivery in the area from now going forward?
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i Lindiwe Mazibuko is a woman who was involved in the struggle against water privatisation in 2009 at Phiri, Soweto. She was amongst the community members who took the municipality to court, fighting against prepaid water meters in Phiri. Phiri residents were not happy with the court’s ruling hence they eventually took their municipality to High court where they ultimately lost the case. ii Andries Tatane was born and bred in Ficksburg. He was shot dead during a service delivery protest in 2011 at Ficksburg. iii The Marikana massacre occurred on 16th August at Lonmin mine where miners were calling for better working conditions and a wage increment of R12 500. In the process, 34 miners lost their lives at the mercy of the police and no one has been held to account for such brutal acts. Lonmin mine is a local mine which falls under Madibeng local municipality in the North West Province. It is situated a few kilometres away from Mothutlung. iv Freedom charter is a statement of core principles that all South Africans must adhere to. It was adopted in Kliptown on the 26th June 1955 to bring all nations to live together as a rainbow nation. v Going native is a term used to describe a situation whereby a foreign individual abandons his way of life and begin to adopt that of local inhabitants. For instance, a researcher abandoning his/her culture and adopting that of his/her respondents. vi IPD is an acronym for Integrated Development Plan. It is a tool of action that local governments use to plan and carry out their activities in consultation with various stakeholders including local residents. vii Alexander (2010) and Alexander et al (2013) argue that not all protest actions should be described as service delivery protests as there are specifics in their grievances. For instance, grievances range from lack of housing, electricity and water to include corruption, unemployment and dissatisfaction with a municipal official. As such, Alexander (2010) proposes that these protests be called community protests. viii The name Domhuises comes from the way in which the houses are built and positioned. These houses are small and placed randomly in the yards. For instance, they are not positioned in a standard pattern. ix Culverts are constructed structures enabling the flow of water under any obstruction from one side to the next. x Vametco mine is a local mine which often assists people with water when they experience water interruptions or water cuts. xi Edna Molewa is a member of the African National Congress and the former Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs xii After a thorough investigation, Edna Molewa found it strange that all the three pumps were dysfunctional in Mothutlung. She also indicated that they will do what they can to solve the matter thus bringing the perpetrators to book. On the same speech, Molewa vowed to ensure that water is restored by Friday. (See Sosibo, K. and Ebrahim, Z. 2014. Mail & Guardian). xiii Blue Drop assessment is a Programme which was implemented by DWA in 2007to verify the level of management proficiency and quality of water in various municipalities across South Africa. Those municipalities which meet the requirements are blue drop certification. (See Harichunder, S. 2011. Blue Drop Report. DWA). xiv Historical debt to the municipality is a debt that was inherited from the Bophuthatswana government as the majority of the residents refused to pay for services during the period in which they wanted to overthrow the state. As such, this debt has accumulated interest and amounts to thousands of rand. However, the municipality has tasked itself with clearing this debt given that residents apply for cancelation to check if they qualify for exemption from payment.
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xv Several residents indicated that, in order for your debt to be reduced, you need to visit Madibeng offices to apply for debt cancellation. Many of these applications still needs to be processed and other people have since been put on the waiting list for debt cancellation. xvi According to the residents of Mothutlung, the tankering system is the main factor that brought about frequent water interruptions in the area. Although the municipality introduced the tankering system as a temporary measure to relieve water interruptions in the area, both residents’ reports and an investigation by the former water and sanitation minister argue otherwise. Drawing from Pogiso’s arguments and evidence from the above-mentioned investigation, water valves were intentionally tampered with so that water supply to the local areas would be interrupted. This would allow for the truck owners to continue making more money out of this water challenge. This means that local residents believe that their water challenge is manufactured by those tenderpreneurs who are self- serving. If this is the case, then the assumption that Madibeng has sufficient water resources which should make it possible for all residents to have constant clean running water in their taps (Bond, 2014) is best suited to explain this scenario. (See also the extract from the interview with Suzie on p.109) xvii Its full name is Scharfschützengewehr 69 and it was produced by Steyr. It is known for its accuracy when aiming the target. According to the respondents, this rifle was banned during the apartheid era in South Africa. xviii Brigadier Modisagaarekwe Mosimanegape is the cluster commander in Brits xix Mr. Lesiba Kgwele is the former Head of Communications in the office of the North West Premier. xx Shadrack Mahlangu is a gentleman from Mothutlung who survived a gunshot during the 2014 water protest in Mothutlung. He is currently living with a bullet in his abdomen.
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