South Africa’s water development path reflects a history of 350 years of settler colonialism and
nearly half a century of institutionalised state racism followed by 17 years of non-racial
democracy. The history illustrates the long-term nature of water resource reform and reveals a
surprisingly consistent approach through very different political eras, driven by hydrological
realities. South Africa is relatively arid and its rainfall varies widely from one season to the
next as well as between different parts of the country. This variability is amplified in freshwater
flows in rivers and streams and has deeply influenced the physical and institutional approaches
that have been taken to water resource management.
Already, South Africa uses over 30% of its available water; at 40% it will probably have
reached the limit of what can be exploited economically. Yet this constrained resource supports
a population of over 50 million and the largest economy in Africa in a state that approaches
water security. As the country slowly moves beyond its immediate history, water policy
reforms have been put in place to support a more inclusive process of development within the
limits that the resource can sustain.
This paper traces the way in which water development has accompanied and supported
broader economic and social development and how the country has dealt with its water
resource constraints, with its growing emphasis on environmental sustainability. It then
highlights what this has meant for the country’s different communities and their neighbours
over the past century. It identifies key initiatives that provided the foundation for present
developments as well as the political economy of their adoption.
It pays particular attention to the reforms that were introduced after the establishment of a
democratic government in 1994. These included giving special status to water for basic human
needs and to sustain environmental flows as well as providing strengthened protection for the
water environment. Measures were adopted that sought to redress the country’s long history
of discrimination and to promote inclusion. The reforms also provided for wide-ranging
institutional changes, the establishment of a systematic and adaptive planning cycle and the
introduction of a process to reallocate water between users in stressed systems where demand
outstripped supply.