In most rural areas, the provision of water and sanitation is not defined by appropriate standards – instead, it has been left to the whims of politics and politicians to define the type and level of water and sanitation to be granted to the poor rural households. Using the case study of Makonde village in Thohoyandou (South Africa), this paper argues that the adoption and implementation of appropriate water and sanitation services is a response to an existing and conducive policy framework. Due to policy lag and uncertainty, rural areas end up falling into the ‘political trap' where households are used as political pawns to fulfill councilors' political ambitions. This is in addition to other aggravating huddles that impact negatively on service delivery, such as lack of integration in sectoral plans. This paper concludes by recommending that the only way to achieve consistency and efficiency in the provision of water and sanitation is to rationalize policies and the policy environment through an inclusive political will.
TopIntroduction
The generally held perception is that policy informs practice. That being the case, there is also a general perception that the level of policy development determines the level of service delivery in human settlements. While this can be true in some instances, it is a myth, which in most cases is misplaced from what actually happens in reality. Nevertheless, creating a livable human settlement with appropriate services in the form of proper water and sanitation requires a responsive policy environment. In most rural areas, the provision of water and sanitation lacks proper definition, at least by standards. Instead, it is often left to the whims of politics and politicians who tend to delineate the type and level of water and sanitation to be provided to the poor rural households. On the other hand, in urban areas, standards are religiously in the provision of services – water and sanitation included.
The need for service delivery is not only a national concern, but also an international concern as underlined in both the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Sustainable Development Goal is an outcome of the September 2015 United Nations general assembly. The goals adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development consisting of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets measured by over 200 indicators. The SDGs as an update to the Millennium Development Goals are not merely development objectives, but they encompass universally acceptable human values and rights such as freedom from hunger, the right to health and a responsibility to future generations (UN, 2008; 2015). Emphasizing the clean water and sanitation for all (SDG 6), Mulligan et al. (2020) mentioned that the goal is specifically dedicated to water and sanitation. However, since water forms such an integral part of human development and ecosystem needs, the successful achievement of nearly all SDGs will fundamentally depend on water (Vörösmarty et al., 2018). Mulligan et al. (2020) went ahead and document that the environmental sustainability dependence on water availability and access is because sanitation is dependent on water. To this end, Germann and Langergraber (2022) extensively commented on role of governance in achieving SDG 6 in Austria.
South Africa as a signatory member state of the United Nations is also mandated to expeditiously fulfil its obligation. The advent of democracy in 1994 in South Africa ushered in a new era for the majority of the population, which for years, was denied access to better services. The mandate to undertake such a mammoth task is enshrined in the country’s 1996 Constitution (No. 108), which clearly advocates for the state to “respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights in the Bill of Rights” (Chapter 2, 7: 2). Among the key socio-economic rights that the state must endeavour to provide include water, housing, food, health care and social security. The challenges for the democratic government were not only the large population of people who were wallowing in poverty and awaiting government intervention, but also the need to put in place policies and structures that would deliver and meet the people’s expectations. Fulfilling these expectations was not easy given the daunting task of dismantling the Apartheid structures and institutions, which in essence were partial and segregatory in nature. Hence, the first task of the new regime involved transforming structures, institutions and processes in the administrative structures with new functions and responsibilities to meet the requisite tasks (Camay and Gordon, 2003: 2; Sebake, 2017; Oldfield, 2019; Popoola et al., 2021; Pillay, 2022).