Examining the dynamics shaping water access for rural and peri-urban areas in the region of Moretele, North West Province, South Africa

Abstract

The Constitution of South Africa affirms all the citizens the right to water access, but there are some communities in the rural and peri-urban areas such as the ones in the Moretele region (North West) without stable and reliable modes of water access. This echoes wider scholarship that argues that in a democratic South Africa, inequalities in water service delivery still run deep. In Moretele, the lack of reliable water access has been a problem that has been persistent, and it has not been clear how the associated institutions have adequately addressed this over time. Through the lens of political ecology and water governance, this study examined the dynamics shaping water access in the region of Moretele. Its multi-site design included three Moretele villages (Makapanstad, Ngobi and Carousel View) which shared the same Water Service Authority (WSA), the Moretele Local Municipality (MLM), and Water Service Provider (WSP), the City of Tshwane (CoT). A qualitative approach combined document review together with observations, structured and semi-structured interviews to collect data from resident households and the relevant institutions. The findings reveal that groundwater was and is still the most common source of water in Makapanstad and Ngobi while Carousel View receives reliable reticulated water supply from the MLM. This uneven water provisioning within the same municipality reflects particular challenges and slow progress around upgrading bulk water infrastructure and borehole infrastructure. Communication between authorities and residents around these challenges has been limited. Until these function at an optimum level, residents of more rural settlements in the Moretele continue to use multiple strategies to meet their water needs, in the absence of more reliable provisioning by the relevant water authorities.